Patient-Rated Tardive Dyskinesia Linked to QoL, Social Functioning

WEDNESDAY, April 19, 2023 (HealthDay News) — For antipsychotic-treated outpatients, patient-rated severity and impact of possible tardive dyskinesia (TD) is associated with health-related quality of life and social functioning, according to a study published online March 9 in the Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes.

Caroline M. Tanner, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues examined the effects of possible TD on antipsychotic-treated outpatients in terms of health and social functioning in two cohorts: cohort 1, which included patients with no abnormal involuntary movements, and cohort 2, which included patients with possible TD per clinician judgement. Assessments included the EuroQOL EQ-5D-5L utility (health), Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) total score (social functioning), patient- and clinician-rated severity of total TD, and patient-rated impact of possible TD.

The researchers found that patients in cohort 2 who were aware of their abnormal movements exhibited a high and significant association for patient-rated TD impact with EQ-5D-5L utility and the total SDS score. There was also an association observed for patient-rated severity with EQ-5D-5L utility. Moderate, but not statistically significant, associations were seen for clinician-rated severity with EQ-5D-5L and SDS.

“These outcomes suggest that in addition to assessing the presence and severity of patients’ abnormal movements during usual care visits, clinicians or their staff may need to ask patients about how TD adversely affects their health-related quality of life (particularly as it relates to their daily activities) and consider these impacts when making and evaluating treatment plans,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to biopharmaceutical companies, including Neurocrine Biosciences, which funded the study.