Increased blink rate in adolescent patients with psychosis

Increased blink rate, a putative correlate of central dopaminergic activity, may be elevated in patients with chronic schizophrenia. In an effort to determine whether this elevation is due to iatrogenic factors, blinking was examined in medication-naive adolescent psychiatric inpatients undergoing their first hospitalization. The mean (+/- SD) blink rate of patients with psychosis (n = 13, 16 +/- 9 blinks/minute) was significantly greater than that of the nonpsychotic control inpatients (n = 35, 10 +/- 6 blinks/minute). Thus, elevated blink rate may be a feature of psychosis that is not necessarily caused by neuroleptic treatment or psychiatric hospitalization.