Objective: We aimed to evaluate the neuro-psychiatric manifestations in focal dystonia patients.

Background: Idiopathic focal dystonia is one of the most common forms of dystonia observed in adults. This condition may be associated with a number of neural substrates such as the basal ganglia, cerebellum, motor, and associative motor areas; therefore, recent studies suggest that dystonia may be classified as a neural network disorder. It is possible that focal dystonia in patients may present through various non-motor manifestations such as, sensory, cognitive, and neuropsychiatric.

Method: In this prospective, case-control, cross-sectional study, we recruited 27 patients with focal dystonia, 24 patients with essential tremor for disease control participants, and 23 healthy control participants of similar ages. We examined them using the Burke-Fahn-Marsden (BFM) Dystonia Rating Scale. The participants were subsequently tasked with completing the following set of questionnaires: Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), K-Mini Mental Status Examination (K-MMSE), Mini international neuropsychiatry interview (M.I.N.I.), and Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory.

Results: The K-MMSE data were studied and compared among the predetermined groups. Mean BFM dystonia rating scale was 7.04±6.51. Patients with focal dystonia and ET had higher scores in BAI (8.79±8.12, 8.33±6.60, and 3.80±4.40 in dystonia, ET, and control, respectively, p=0.0161) and BDI (9.71±6.85, 9.25±7.40, and 3.85±4.96 in dystonia, ET, and control, respectively, p=0.0015) than did the healthy controls. The dystonia and ET groups did not present any significant differences among each other for these scores (p>0.05). Frequency of subjects with psychiatric disorders was comparable among the groups (p=0.1632); however, dystonia patients presented with higher frequencies of psychiatric disorders (48%, 33%, and 17% in dystonia, ET, and controls, respectively).

Conclusion: Dystonia patients demonstrated a higher number of symptoms associated with depression and anxiety than did the healthy controls. However, these symptoms were similar to those observed in the disease controls, suggesting that depression and anxiety in focal dystonia patients may not be disease specific. Although not statistically significant, participants in the dystonia group demonstrated a higher frequency of psychiatric disorders.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/neuropsychiatric-non-motor-manifestations-in-patients-with-focal-dystonia/