Psychological situation and quality of life in patients with primary cervical distonia

Primary Cervical Dystonia (CD) is a type of focal distony which causes abnormal postures, developed as a result of involuntary spasms of neck muscles, in both neck and head. In addition to the motor symptoms, CD may also be observed through non-motor symptoms. So CD generates involuntary muscle spasms in the neck that the life quality of the patients is also reduced. CD then again affects patients' positions in the society, their psychological state in social environments so that the situation substantially reduces the quality of the life of the patients. The aim of this study is to detect the poor life quality of the patients and severeness of depression and anxiety, in addition to this to determine the relationship between depression and anxiety and poor quality of life. In this study, we performed Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaires which have previously proven validity and reliability, to the patient group of 47 people and control group of 40 people. According to the HADS scale results for healthy control group of CD patients; it is detected that depression and anxiety sub scale have higher averages than cut off scores and have lower scores for 7 of the 8 sub scores of the SF-36 quality of life form. In conclusion, dystonia compromises the life quality of the patients and increases psychological comorbidities like anxiety and depression in patients with CD. KEYWORDS: Cervical dystonia, Quality of life, Depression, Anxiety, Daily Life Activities