CURRENT CANNABIS USE AND TARDIVE-DYSKINESIA

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between substanc e abuse and tardive diskinesia (TD) in 51 chronic, neuroleptic-treated , community outpatients with a DSM-III-R diagnosis of schizophrenia. I n the presence of a clinical researcher, subjects completed a question naire on past and current alcohol and drug use, and provided informati on pertaining to variables which have, in the past, been implicated in the development of TD: smoking habits, caffeine consumption, and curr ent neuroleptic dose. Subjects were also administered the Abnormal Inv oluntary Movement Scale (AIMS) in an interview format with either two or three trained raters present in the room. Consistent with previous reports, our results indicated a trend for females and older patients with a longer duration of illness to show elevated scores on the AIMS. In a hierarchical multiple regression analysis, however, cannabis use was found to correlate best with the presence of TD, outranking other putative factors.