Psychiatry of Movement Disorders

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Psychiatry of Paediatric Movement Disorders

• IRAS ID

  118323

• Contact name

  Manju Kurian

• Contact email

  manju.kurian@gosh.nhs.uk

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 0 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  Children with movement disorders present a growing population in paediatric neurology. In clinical practice, movement disorders tend to be evaluated in accordance with the characteristics of the abnormal movement. These may be categorised as tics, chorea, dystonia or tremor. There are several aetiologies associated with movement disorders in children which can be divided into two main categories:

  • Genetic disorders due to important mutations or deletions of essential brain genes
  • Secondary disorders, due to a brain insult such as encephalitis, stroke or metabolic disorders

  Psychiatric comorbidities have been well described in adults with movement disorders such as Huntingtons Disease, and Wilson’s Disease. Psychiatric and behavioral disorders are also well recognised in children with tics and Tourette syndrome. There is, however, little known about the psychiatric problems that affect children with a broader range of movement disorders including genetic dystonias, stereotypies and essential tremor. The biological rational of the hypothesis is that interruption of the cortic-striatal-thalamic pathways may result in disorders of movement but also disorders of behaviour and emotion.

  This study will examine the presence of psychiatric comorbidity in a large hospital acquired population of children with movement disorders. The primary site for this research is The Children's Hospital at Westmead in Australia for which ethics approval has been granted and recruitment of movement disorder patients and two control groups has commenced. At Great Ormond Street Hospital only children with movement disorders will be recruited as the DAWBA has previously been validated with a British 'normal control' sample.

  The study tool is a validated psychiatric interview which can be performed by the family at home on the internet which is password secured and coded for each individual. This study will define the extent of psychiatric disorders associated with movement disorders in children, and define the types of movement disorders which are ‘highest risk’.

• REC name

  London - South East Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  15/LO/0239

• Date of REC Opinion

  2 Nov 2015

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion