Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147:1156-1163
Copyright © 1990 by American Psychiatric Association
Factors in the development of severe forms of tardive dyskinesia
R Yassa, NP Nair, H Iskander and G Schwartz
Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The authors evaluated 558 patients for tardive dyskinesia. They found that
the prevalence of tardive dyskinesia was 34%. There were no differences
between men and women in prevalence of tardive dyskinesia. However, severe
tardive dyskinesia was found to occur more in male patients 40 years old or
younger and in female patients 71 years old or older. Patients with mild
tardive dyskinesia received more neuroleptics than did patients with
moderate and severe forms. However, patients with moderate tardive
dyskinesia had significantly more drug-free periods in their drug histories
than did patients with mild tardive dyskinesia.
