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Familial occurrence of tardive dyskinesia
D J Müller1, T G Schulze, M Knapp
1Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany.
Objective:
Familial occurrence of tardive dyskinesia (TD) and schizophrenia has been hypothesized to confer risk to the development of TD. We investigated these hypotheses in a large patient sample applying standardized methods for phenotype characterization.
Method:
Two hundred and twenty-two patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were assessed for TD and for family history of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Thirty-nine patients had 40 affected first-degree family members, one patient having two first-degree relatives. Of these, 17 pairs and one triplet were personally examined.
Results:
1) There was a tendency for TD in the affected relatives to be associated with the TD status of the index-patient; this finding was unrelated to age and doses of neuroleptic medication. 2) No association between a family history of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and TD was found.
Conclusion:
A family history of TD might represent a risk factor for TD, whereas a family history of schizophrenia does not.