A recent study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry by a group from the Netherlands links asymmetry of drug-induced parkinsonism (DIP) with the severity of psychiatric disease. A cohort of psychiatric patients was evaluated for DIP and corresponding risk factors. DIP was observed in 56.2% of the patients, with the asymmetric presentation in 20.8% of patients, which is consistent with the published literature. Researchers found that asymmetry of movement disorder was associated with the severity of psychiatric disease, indicating a possible prognostic value of asymmetry and its usefulness in alerting a clinician to a more severe psychopathology.

Click here to read more about this study in MD Magazine.

1. Pieters LE, Bakker PR, van Harten PN. Asymmetric Drug-Induced Parkinsonism and Psychopathology: A Prospective Naturalistic Study in Long-Stay Psychiatric Patients. Front Psychiatry. 2018;9:18.