Tardive dyskinesia correlates inversely with polydipsia in chronic psychiatric patients

The present study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between tardive dyskinesia (TD) and polydipsia. The Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) and percent of maximum weight gain (PMWG)/week were simultaneously examined in 163 hospitalized patients receiving neuroleptic treatment. Patients with TD were less polydipsic than patients without TD. Moreover, there was a weak but significant negative correlation between the AIMS total scores and PMWG. The AIMS total scores were correlated significantly with age at onset of disease, whereas PMWG was negatively correlated with age at disease onset. The present study is the first report to clarify the relationship between TD and polydipsia utilizing continuous data of both TD and polydipsia. The biological bases of the difference between TD and polydipsia were discussed in term of supersensitivity of dopaminergic and noradrenergic neurons. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.