Tardive dyskinesia is associated with greater cognitive impairment in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder diagnosed by the presence of a number of symptoms with cognitive impairment as a core feature. Long-term antipsychotic treatment is often associated with the emergence of tardive dyskinesia (TD) and the presence of TD is linked to cognitive impairment. This study examined the relationship between TD and cognitive deficits in Chinese patients with schizophrenia. We recruited 206 chronic patients with TD (n=102) and without TD (n=104) meeting DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia and 104 control subjects who were matched on age, gender, and education. All the patients completed the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS), Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), and the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS). The PANSS total score (p=0.01), N subscore (p=0.006), and AIMS total score (p