Dyskinetic movements, cognitive impairment, and negative symptoms in elderly neuropsychiatric patients.

The presence or absence of tardive dyskinesia, cognitive status, and psychopathology were assessed in a group of elderly male psychiatric patients (N = 49) in a nursing home setting. Twenty-five patients were found to have tardive dyskinesia, which was associated with a greater degree of cognitive impairment and negative symptoms. This finding was not related to obvious macroscopic organic pathologies, which were less prevalent in the dyskinetic patients. In fact, patients with frontal lesions (primarily lobotomies) had a significantly lower prevalence of tardive dyskinesia.