Cigarette smoking is associated with abnormal involuntary movements in the general male population—a study of men born in 1933

Abnormal involuntary movements, i.e., spontaneous and tardive dyskinesias, were studied in a random population sample of 559 men, aged 59 years, who were participating in an epidemiological study focused on cardiovascular health. The research diagnostic criteria for tardive dyskinesia were fulfilled by 8.2% (n = 46), discounting the fact that all had not been exposed to neuroleptics. The mean Abnormal Involuntary Movements Scale score in the dyskinetic group was 5.0 (SD = 1.8), indicating mild to moderate symptoms. Dyskinetic men had higher daily cigarette consumption and higher scores for parkinsonian symptoms. They also had higher frequencies of psychiatric morbidity, exposure to neuroleptics, and alcohol dependence than the men without dyskinesia. In a logistic regression model, exposure to neuroleptics (p< .05) and daily cigarette consumption (p< .0005) were independently associated with dyskinesia. The probability of dyskinesia in a person smoking 20 or more cigarettes per day was 19%, whereas the probability associated with exposure to neuroleptics was 30%.