The life expectancy of schizophrenic patients with tardive dyskinesia

Relationships between tardive dyskinesia (TD) and the life expectancy of schizophrenic patients who suffer it were examined in two studies over a 50-month period. In a prospective study, the mortality rate was found to be higher in patients with TD than in those without. This suggests either that TD is a factor tending to precipitate death, or else that it is an indication that the final period of life has been reached. The failure in the prospective study to detect medical factors which would discriminate between those TD patients who died and those who remained alive, as well as the finding of a significantly older age at death of patients with TD in the retrospective study may both support this idea. No significant differences were observed in the retrospective study in the prevalence of TD between 35 pairs of age-matched deceased and living patients. The effects of TD on life expectancy are subtle; the present results are consistent with the possibilities both that TD reduces life expectancy and that it appears at the end-stage of life.