Objective:

To update and expand upon a previously completed survey and chart extraction by capturing more recent information on tardive dyskinesia (TD) burden and clinician-reported improvement with treatment across various areas, including physical, functional, social, emotional, and independence.

Background:

TD significantly impacts quality of life (QoL) beyond movement symptoms. A web-based survey and chart extraction among US physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants characterized TD burden and improvement following valbenazine treatment.

Design/Methods:

Clinicians reported data from patient charts who started valbenazine treatment between 1/1/2024 and 6/30/2024 and completed ≥2 months of valbenazine treatment with ≥1 follow-up visit. 

Results:

Interim analyses included responses from 78 clinicians caring for 164 patients taking valbenazine. Mean patient age was 51.2 (standard deviation: 13.4) years, 57.9% were female. The most common underlying psychiatric diagnoses were schizophrenia (42.1%), bipolar disorder (34.1%), major depressive disorder (25.0%), and schizoaffective disorder (17.7%).

Most patients (82.9%) had mild-to-moderate TD severity; 12.2% had severe TD. At the survey time, nearly all patients (93.9%) had experienced TD improvement after initiating valbenazine; of those patients (n=154), 87.7% experienced improvement within 4 weeks.

TD had an impact on functional ability in 95.1% of patients. The most commonly impacted areas of function were emotionality, socialization, activities of daily living (ADLs), and mouth/throat function. Among those impacted (n=156), 94.2% improved in overall functional status.

Additionally, 87.8% of all patients experienced improvement in independence.  For those with available information on antipsychotic adherence (n=115), over half (52.2%) experienced improved adherence.

Conclusions:

Real-world, valbenazine-treated TD patients experienced improvement in functional, social, independence, emotional, and physical aspects of their lives, irrespective of TD severity. Data on independence, ADLs, and antipsychotic medication adherence added new information to prior analyses in functional and QoL improvements beyond movement symptoms.