Abstract
The question of whether dyskinesia of the type found in tardive dyskinesia (TD) related to schizophrenia has a neurodevelopmental background was studied in a sample of 60 younger schizophrenia patients (mean age 38 years) and 21 of their non-ill siblings. TD-like dyskinesia was studied in relation to selected risk factors in the patients, and to neurological abnormality and parkinsonism in both patients and siblings. One or more signs of TD-like dyskinesia in patients were predicted by male gender, a history of obstetric complications, shorter illness duration, and shorter neuroleptic exposure. One or more signs of TD-like dyskinesia were found in 28.5 percent of the siblings and tended to be associated with neurological abnormality. Little co-occurrence of TD-like dyskinesia was found in the sibling and the patient in the same family. Patients' TD-like dyskinesia was significantly associated with hard neurological signs (independent of involuntary movements) but not with soft signs or primitive reflexes per se. TD-like dyskinesia showed a significant positive relationship to parkinsonism in patients. TD-like dyskinesia in younger schizophrenia patients appears to have neurodevelopmental antecedents and seems to represent one aspect of the total neurological abnormality associated with schizophrenia.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have