A comparative study of spontaneous dyskinesias and neuroleptic-induced dyskinesias was made in 270 elderly subjects of a retirement home in France. Females were found to have twice the incidence of dyskinesias (27 per cent) than did males (12 per cent) (p=.04). In' addition, 18 per cent of the patients who had not received neuroleptics had dyskinesias; however, 42 per cent of those who had received neuroleptics had dyskinesias. This difference is significant at the ρ=.0001 level. These results are discussed in terms of the general phenomena of central nervous system degeneration in the elderly.