TARDIVE-DYSKINESIA PREVALENCE RATES DURING A 10-YEAR FOLLOW-UP

We followed up patients in the State Psychiatric Hospital Mauer-Ohling , Mauer-Ohling, Austria, who had been examined in 1982 to determine th e prevalence of tardive dyskinesia (TD). Of the 861 patients examined in 1982, 270 were still in hospital 10 years later. Only these patient s were included in our study. The SKAUB (Skala fur abnorme unwillkurli che Bewegungen, i.e., The German version of the Abnormal Involuntary M ovement Scale) was used to quantify the occurrence of TD. The prevalen ce rate of TD was 3.7% in 1982 and 12.7% in 1992. The 1992 prevalence rate in patients who had not shown TD symptoms in 1982 was 11.4%. The major risk factor for TD was advanced age.