Hydroxychloraquine-Induced Acute Psychotic Disorder in a Female Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis: a Case Report

Abstract

Chloroquine and its derivative hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) have been used for acute and prophilactic treatment of malaria for most of the last century. HCQ has anti-inflammatory, antilipidemic and antithrombotic effects and in recent years has become an important drug for treating rheumatoid arthritis ( RA). In the literature, antimalarial-induced psychosis has been reported in a small number of cases; however, we did not find any case related with HCQ-induced psychosis in rheumatoid arthritis. We want to report a 73-year-old female RA patient without a previous history of psychosis who developed psychosis after use of HCQ. HCQ is being increasingly prescribed in autoimmune diseases. Clinicians need to be aware of psychosis as a rare but debilitating side effect.