Objective: The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence of non-motor symptoms (NMS) and to explore their association with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in addition to motor impairment in patients with cervical dystonia (CD).

Background: NMS are commonly present along the motor impairment in patients with CD and they seem to have a larger impact on HRQoL than the motor disability. Especially neuropsychiatric disturbances (depression, anxiety, fatigue), sleep disorders and sensory abnormalities including pain were reported to have an association with CD and possibly are an intrinsic part of dystonia´s phenotype.

Method: We enrolled 102 patients with CD. The severity of both motor and non-motor symptoms was assessed using: Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale, Clinical Global Impression Scale, Beck’s depression and anxiety inventory, Starkstein’s Apathy Scale, Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Epworth sleepiness scale. HRQoL was determined by the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). First we described the prevalence of individual NMS, next we assessed predictors of poor HRQoL using multiple regression analyses.

Results: The most frequent NMS in our sample was sleep impairment (67.3%), followed by anxiety (65.5%), general and physical fatigue (57.5% and  52.9%, respectively), depression (47.1%), mental fatigue (31.4%), apathy (30.4%), reduced activity (29.4%), excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) (20.2%) and reduced motivation (18.6%). Univariate analysis showed that NMS, but not motor symptoms, were significantly linked to poor HRQoL. Among all NMS, EDS was the most common predictor of poor HRQoL, followed by disrupted sleep, depression and fatigue.

Conclusion: Our study showed a considerable prevalence of NMS among patients with CD. While some of these NMS seem to be important determinants of decreased HRQoL, motor disability was not associated with severity of NMS nor with impaired HRQoL. Active seeking for NMS and their specialized treatment should be therefore an important part of clinical management of patients with CD.

« Back to 2019 International Congress

MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/predictors-of-health-related-quality-of-life-in-patients-with-cervical-dystonia/