Background: Drug-induced movement disorders (DIMDs) form an important subgroup of secondary movement disorders, which despite conferring a significant iatrogenic burden, tend to be under-recognized and inappropriately managed.
Objective: We aimed to look into phenomenology, predictors of reversibility, and its impact on the quality of life of DIMD patients.
Methods: We conducted the study in the Department of Neurology at a tertiary-care centre in India. The institutional ethics-committee approved the study. We assessed 55-consecutive DIMD patients at presentation to our movement disorder clinic. Subsequently, they followed up to evaluate improvement in severity-scales (UPDRS, UDRS, BARS, AIMS) and quality of life (EuroQol-5D-5L). Wilcoxan-signed-rank test compared the scales at presentation and follow-up. Binary-logistic-regrerssion revealed the independent predictors of reversibility.
Results: Fourteen patients (25.45%) had acute-subacute DIMD and 41 (74.55%) had tardive DIMD. Tardive-DIMD occurred more commonly in the elderly (age 50.73±16.92 years, p<0.001). Drug-induced-Parkinsonism (DIP) was the most common MD, followed by tardivedyskinesia. Risperidone and levosulpiride were the commonest culprit drugs. Patients in both the groups showed a statistically significant response to drug-dose reduction /withdrawal based on follow-up assessment on clinical-rating-scales and quality of life scores (EQ-5D-5L). DIMD was reversible in 71.42% of acute-subacute DIMD and 24.40% of patients with chronic DIMD (p=0.001). Binary-logistic-regression analysis showed acute-subacute DIMDs and DIP as independent predictors of reversibility.
Conclusion: DIP is the commonest and often reversible drug-induced movement disorder. Levosulpiride is notorious for causing DIMD in the elderly, requiring strict pharmacovigilance.
Keywords: Drug-induced movement; disorders; drug-induced Parkinsonism; dystonia; quality of life; tardive dyskinesia.