Anxiety and depression in primary and secondary dystonia: A burden on health related quality of life

Dystonia is a reason of visible chronic motor and/or psychological disability that may influence the quality of life. Our aim was to investigate depression and anxiety in patients with primary and secondary dystonia, and to evaluate their effects on the quality of life. Patients with primary and secondary dystonia, and age-matched healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study. Anxiety and depression was evaluated with Hospital Anxiety Depression (HAD) scale. Short Form-36 was used to assess the quality of life in both study groups. Both mean anxiety and depression subscales scores were found to be increased in the patients with dystonia, when compared with the control group (p < 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in the HAD scores patients with primary and secondary dystonia (p > 0.05). When compared with controls, all domains of SF-36 were found to be decreased in patients with dystonia contributing to a deterioration in the HR-QoL (p < 0.05). Among dystonia patients, a statistically significant decrease was found in all domains of SF-36, except vitality and mental health in secondary dystonia (p < 0.05). Multiple regression analysis revealed that secondary dystonia, long term disease, depression and anxiety have a great impact on quality of life of patients with dystonia. Dystonia can be considered as an important risk factor for anxiety and depression which leads to a deterioration in the quality of life of patients.