Management of tardive dyskinesia and tardive dystonia with clozapine: A retrospective study

Aim

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of switching to clozapine in the management of tardive syndromes (TS).

Methodology

The treatment records of patients who had TS at the time of starting clozapine, were reviewed and demographic and clinical data was extracted on a predesigned performa.

Results

About three-fourth (74.2 %) of the study subjects had tardive dystonias and two-third (69.7 %) had tardive dyskinesia at the time of starting clozapine. About half (48.5 %) of the patients had both tardive dystonia and dyskinesia. A small proportion (13.6 %) also had tardive akathisia at the time of starting clozapine. About three-fourth (72.2 %) of the patients had >50 % reduction, and about two-third (66.6 %) of the patients had >75 % reduction and nearly half (54.5 %) of the patients had complete resolution of dyskinesia at the last follow-up. Similar trends were seen in reduction in dystonia, i.e., >50 % reduction in 74.3 %, >75 % reduction in 62.2 % and complete resolution was seen in 56.1 %.

Conclusions

The present study suggest that clozapine is useful in the management of drug induced tardive dyskinesia and tardive dystonia.