A few earlier observations and recent controlled studies pointed to the possible contribution of thyroid diseases in idiopathic adult-onset dystonia (IAOD). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between thyroid status and clinical characteristics of IAOD, focusing on dystonia localization, spread, and associated features such as tremors and sensory tricks. Patients were identified from those included in the Italian Dystonia Registry, a multicentre dataset of patients with adult-onset dystonia. The study population included 1518 IAOD patients. Patients with hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism were compared with those without any thyroid disease. In the 1518 IAOD patients, 167 patients (11%; 95% CI 9.5–12.6%) were diagnosed with hypothyroidism and 42 (2.8%; 95% CI 1.99–3.74) with hyperthyroidism. The three groups were comparable in age at dystonia onset, but there were more women than men in the groups with thyroid disease. Analysing the anatomical distribution of dystonia, more patients with blepharospasm were present in the hyperthyroidism group, but the difference did not reach statistical significance after the Bonferroni correction. The remaining dystonia-affected body sites were similarly distributed in the three groups, as did dystonia-associated features and spread. Our findings provided novel information indicating that the high rate of thyroid diseases is not specific for any specific dystonia subpopulation and does not appear to influence the natural history of the disease.

一些早期观察和最近的对照研究指出甲状腺疾病可能导致特发性成人肌张力障碍（IAOD）。本研究的目的是调查甲状腺状态与 IAOD 临床特征之间的关联，重点关注肌张力障碍的定位、扩散以及相关特征，如震颤和感觉异常。患者是从意大利肌张力障碍登记库中确定的，这是一个成人发病肌张力障碍患者的多中心数据集。研究人群包括 1518 名 IAOD 患者。将患有甲状腺功能减退症和甲状腺功能亢进症的患者与没有任何甲状腺疾病的患者进行比较。在 1518 名 IAOD 患者中，167 名患者（11%；95% CI 9.5–12.6%）被诊断为甲状腺功能减退症，42 名患者（2.8%；95% CI 1.99–3.74）被诊断为甲状腺功能亢进症。三组肌张力障碍发病年龄相当，但患有甲状腺疾病的女性多于男性。分析肌张力障碍的解剖分布，甲亢组眼睑痉挛患者较多，但经Bonferroni校正后差异未达到统计学意义。其余受肌张力障碍影响的身体部位在三组中的分布相似，肌张力障碍相关的特征和扩散也是如此。我们的研究结果提供了新的信息，表明甲状腺疾病的高发病率并不针对任何特定的肌张力障碍亚群，并且似乎不会影响该疾病的自然史。