Akatizie - častý, ale obtížně rozpoznatelný nežádoucí účinek?

Drug induced akathisia is classified as an extrapyramidal adverse effect. Although akathisia is quite common extrapyramidal adverse effect, it is often overlooked or mistaken for restlessness or agitation of another etiology. Drugs associated with the risk of extrapyramidal adverse effects (antipsychotics, antiemetics, antidepressants) belong to frequently used pharmacotherapy. The use of these drugs is often complicated by serious condition of a patient and several other comorbidities, which increase the risk of the aforementioned adverse effects. In many situations, akathisia can be more difficult to recognize and more easily attributed to non-drug etiology, especially outside the fields of psychiatry and neurology. The variability of the clinical symptoms and the similarity to other clinical entities that occur frequently (anxiety, delirium, agitated depression, restless legs syndrome, etc.) can lead to difficult determination of the etiology and to the administration of medication, which tends to worsen the problem. At the same time, akathisia can be a source of very strong distress for a patient and fundamentally reduce his quality of life.