Tardive dyskinesia and mortality

Tardive dyskinesia is one of the main side effects of antipsychotic drugs and is characterized by repetitive, involuntary and purposeless movements such as grimacing, tongue protrusion, lip smacking, rapid eye blinking and involuntary movements of the hands and feet. A study of 608 Asian people with schizophrenia compared the mortality rate in those with and without tardive dyskinesia. It found that people with tardive dyskinesia were nearly twice as likely to die over the six years of the study although the condition was not linked to any specific cause of death.

Chong, Siow-Ann ... [et al] - Mortality rates among patients with schizophrenia and tardive dyskinesia Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology February 2009, 29(1), 5-8