Tardive dyskinesia in schizophrenic outpatients.

A study of the side effects of phenothiazine drug treatment on 211 schizophrenic patients was carried out using the Simpson Scale. There were 21 cases of tardive dyskinesia, giving a prevalence of 10% which is low compared with other studies. Compared with the control patients without tardive dyskinesia, there was no significant relationship between tardive dyskinesia and variables like sex, age group, duration of drug treatment, ECT, benzhexol, and anticholinergic and other side effects, as reported in Western countries.