Descriptive characteristics of inpatients with tardive dyskinesia as distinguished from inpatients without tardive dyskinesia

• Main Author: Savage, Lucy Glover
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: W&M ScholarWorks 1980
• Subjects: Psychiatric and Mental Health
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539618519; https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1729&context=etd

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of the presence or absence of tardive dyskinesia (TD) to drug and behavioral history variables. The author hoped to determine if there were descriptive characteristics, unique to patients with TD, which could merit further investigation as precursors of TD. Two samples, with 26 subjects each, were drawn from patients identified at Eastern State Hospital and screened by a psychiatrist. The TD and No-TD groups were matched on age, sex, and diagnosis. Entire drug histories were recorded and entire behavioral (hospitalization) histories were rated. Data collection was discontinued, for both subjects, with the emergence of TD symptoms in the TD subject. This was an ex post facto design.;It was hypothesized that significant differences would be found between the two groups on history of antipsychotic and antiparkinson medications, history of polypharmacy, history of drug-free days and periods, history of extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS), history of psychiatric behavior patterns, race, eye color, and dental status. A trend was noted for the No-TD group to have consistently higher means on all of the drug variables. Significantly higher means for the No-TD group were found for mean cumulative and mean daily dose of antipsychotics, mean length of antiparkinson agent administration, and in the number of EPS incidences. The TD group had significantly more edentulous subjects than the No-TD groups.;Although TD is clearly related to antipsychotic ingestion, apparently it is not related to the quantity of antipsychotics ingested. Future study should, therefore, focus on the relationship of individual vulnerability to the development of TD rather than on drug variables such as those investigated in this study. Further investigation of the behavioral precursors is indicated. A prospective design is recommended in order to clarify relationships, such as EPS history and the development of TD, that remain unclear in retrospective investigations.