Detection of Demografic and Clinical Risk Factors Associated with Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome: Evaluation of Cases in The Turkish Literature

Detection of demografic and clinical risk factors associated with neuroleptic malignant syndrome: evaluation of cases in the Turkish literature Objective: Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) is a severe adverse effect which can be seen during antipsycotic treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the demographics, clinical features, psychiatric diagnoses, laboratory findings, treatment and complications of NMS cases reported in the Turkish literature. Methods: Twenty-one out of 22 articles which were published in 2010 and before and full texts were accessed by cross referencing after scanning NMS key words at Turkish Psychiatry Index were included in this study. Clinical and laboratory findings, treatments and developing complications of 32 cases were evaluated. Results: Thirty-two patients with a mean age of 27.3±12 years were identified. 40.7% of the cases were diagnosed with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders while 34.4% were diagnosed with bipolar disorders. Rigidity, disturbances of consciousness, fever, sweating were present in most of the NMS cases. Sixteen (50%) NMS cases were taking classical antipsychotics while 4 (12.5%) of them were taking atypical antipsychotics during the diagnosis of NMS. The most common treatment choices for NMS were bromocriptine, electroconvulsive therapy and dantrolene. Aspiration pneumonia and acute renal failure were the most common complications due to NMS. It was reported that 6.3% (n= 2) of the cases died. Conclusion: It was remarkable that the mean antipsychotic dosages in MNS cases were within therapeutic limits. Detecting the risk factors for NMS would help clinicians prevent probable complications of NMS.