Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147:1646-1649
Copyright © 1990 by American Psychiatric Association
Dyskinetic movements, cognitive impairment, and negative symptoms in elderly neuropsychiatric patients
CN Karson, HS Bracha, A Powell and L Adams
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Arkansas, Little Rock.
The presence or absence of tardive dyskinesia, cognitive status, and
psychopathology were assessed in a group of elderly male psychiatric
patients (N = 49) in a nursing home setting. Twenty-five patients were
found to have tardive dyskinesia, which was associated with a greater
degree of cognitive impairment and negative symptoms. This finding was not
related to obvious macroscopic organic pathologies, which were less
prevalent in the dyskinetic patients. In fact, patients with frontal
lesions (primarily lobotomies) had a significantly lower prevalence of
tardive dyskinesia.
