Cervical dystonia: clinical findings and associated movement disorders

Abstract

We studied 300 patients, 61% women, with mean age 49.7 years and mean duration of dystonia 7.8 years, to determine the demographic and clinical characteristics of cervical dystonia (CD) and its relationships to other movement disorders. Torticollis was present in 82%, laterocollis in 42%, retrocollis in 29%, and anterocollis in 25%; however, the majority (66%) had a combination of these abnormal postures. Scoliosis was present in 39%, local pain reported by 68%, and 32% had evidence of secondary cervical radiculopathy. In addition to CD, 16% of patients had oral dystonia, 12% mandibular dystonia, 10% hand/arm dystonia, and 10% had blepharospasm. Tremor was noted in 71% of patients; head-neck tremor was present in 60%, and tremor in other body regions was present in 32%. A family history of a movement disorder was present in 44% of the CD patients. Tardive dystonia was the cause in 6%; 11% had posttraumatic dystonia. Anticholinergic drugs provided moderate improvement in 33% of patients, but local intramuscular botulinum toxin injections relieved CD, local pain, or both in over 90% of all treated patients.