UCSF

Purpose/background

RE-KINECT (NCT03062033) was designed to assess the presence and impact of possible tardive dyskinesia (TD) in antipsychotic-treated outpatients.

Methods/procedures

The study included adults with 3 or more months of lifetime antipsychotic exposure and 1 or more psychiatric disorder. Based on clinician observation and assessment, patients were assigned to cohort 1 (without involuntary movements or with non-TD involuntary movements) or cohort 2 (with involuntary movements confirmed by clinician as possible TD). Baseline assessments included the following: patient characteristics; location/severity of involuntary movements; and impact of possible TD on health-related quality of life, including the EuroQoL 5-Dimensions 5-Level questionnaire.

Findings/results

Of 739 eligible patients, 204 (27.6%) had clinician-confirmed possible TD (cohort 2). Compared with cohort 1, patients in cohort 2 were significantly older (P < 0.0001), more likely to have schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (P < 0.0001) and longer lifetime exposure to antipsychotics (P < 0.0001), and less likely to be working or studying, based on clinician perception (P = 0.0010). Clinician- and patient-rated severity of possible TD movements was significantly correlated in each of 4 body regions (head/face, neck/trunk, upper extremities, lower extremities), for maximum severity in any region, and for total number of affected regions (P < 0.001 for all correlations). For the patient-rated EuroQoL 5-Dimensions 5-Level, the health state visual analog scale score was significantly lower (worse) in cohort 2 versus cohort 1 (66.8 vs 69.7; P = 0.0002), as was the utility index score (0.71 vs 0.76; P < 0.0175).

Implications/conclusions

Results from this real-world population indicate that TD occurs frequently and can significantly reduce quality of life in patients with a psychiatric disorder.