Prevalence of spontaneous dyskinesia in first episode, drug naive schizophrenia, and its relation to the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia Bhandari Samrat Singh1,*, Bhagabati Dipesh2 1Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences, Tadong, Gangtok, Sikkim, India 2Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Guwahati, Assam, India *Correspondence: Dr. Samrat Singh Bhandari, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences, 5th Mile, Tadong, Gangtok-737102, Sikkim, India. samrat.bhandari@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 30 June, 2017. Abstract Aims and objectives This study aims to assess the prevalence of abnormal involuntary movement in never medicated patients with schizophrenia and to find its relation with demographic variables, and with the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia; this study also aims to assess the topography of the dyskinesia. Methodology Socio-demographic data of 100 consecutively selected patients who fulfilled the ICD-10 Diagnostic Criteria for Research were collected in a 12-month period. These patients were rated with the Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS). Patients were labeled as having spontaneous dyskinesia if they fulfilled the criteria of Schooler and Kane which needs a score of two (mild) in at least two areas or score of three (moderate) or four (severe) in one area. Results Fifty two per cent of the study samples were male and 48% were female with mean age of 30.72 years with standard deviation of 8.7 years. Sixteen per cent of the patients had dyskinesia when examined with AIMS. However, only 14% fulfilled the Schooler and Kane's criteria for spontaneous dyskinesia. A strong correlation was found between the presence of dyskinesia and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. 57.1% of these 14 patients had dyskinesia located in their oral and facial region. Seventy one per cent of these patients with dyskinesia had no awareness of their involuntary movements. Conclusions Spontaneous dyskinesia, negative symptoms, and lack of awareness of the abnormal involuntary movement can be taken as one of the presenting symptoms of schizophrenia. Top Keywords Schizophrenia, Dyskinesia, Abnormal Involuntary Movement, Positive and Negative Symptoms. Top |