A 10-year follow-up study of tardive dyskinesia.

In a 10-year follow-up study of 44 patients with tardive dyskinesia (TD), the majority (22 or 50%) had no change in their TD severity, 9 (20%) had an improvement and 13 (30%) had a worsening of their TD. Little difference was noted in those patients whose medication was decreased (n = 12) and those whose medication remained unchanged (n = 32). Of the women, 26% showed improvement as compared with 11% of the men. Also, patients whose TD improved had lower present neuroleptic dose than those whose TD worsened. These two factors should be studied in larger patient cohorts.