OCULOGYRIC SPASM IN ASIAN PSYCHIATRIC-INPATIENTS ON MAINTENANCE MEDICATION

Background. The objective was to investigate the occurrence and charac teristics of oculogyric spasm (OGS) in an Asian country. Method. All 2 035 Asian (88% Chinese, 7% Malays and 5% Indonesians) psychiatric in-p atients in the state psychiatric hospital in Singapore were surveyed f or occurrence of oculogyric spasm (OGS) over a two-month period. Resul ts. Thirty-four patients (1.7%) developed OGS (53% male and 47% female ). All the 34 patients had been on maintenance antipsychotic drugs for more than five months. Eighteen patients had recurrent attacks. The m ean chlorpromazine equivalent daily dose for those patients with recur rent OGS was 511 mg. This was significantly higher (P<0.05) than the 2 77 mg daily dose received by those without recurrent OGS. Most (68%) o f the attacks occurred between 1400-2000 h suggesting that OGS may hav e a diurnal variation. Conclusions. OGS presenting as tardive dystonia may be due to a relative increase in cholinergic activity