Psychiatric Symptoms in Women with Focal Cervical Dystonia - Exploring New Pathophysiological Pathways

Abstract

So far there is not much research considering female sex as a risk factor for developing focal cervical dystonia and concomitant psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety. New research proposes ideas of CD baseline pathophysiology targeting neurobiological mechanisms of gamma aminobutyric acid GABAergic function underlying sexual dimorphism and psychiatric symptoms as an intrinsic factor of the disease itself. Our research examines the connection between motor and non-motor symptoms in female patients suffering from focal cervical dystonia and their response to treatment, cit- ing the available literature and hypothesising whether it can be linked to previously described alterations in GABA levels.