The prevalence of adult-onset isolated dystonia in Finland 2007-2016

BACKGROUND: Dystonia is a group of chronic diseases, causing considerable physical and psychosocial stress to patients and health care expenses. We studied the prevalence of different dystonia types in Finland in the years 2007–2016. METHODS: All patients with an ICD-10 code of dystonia were retrieved from the national care register. Average age-adjusted yearly prevalence was assessed for adult-onset isolated idiopathic or hereditary dystonia types from patient records from the Uusimaa and Pirkanmaa provinces. RESULTS: 1316 patients were confirmed to have adult-onset isolated idiopathic or hereditary dystonia based on hospital records from two provinces. On average, the age-adjusted prevalence for all adult-onset dystonia was 405 per million and for cervical dystonia 304 per million. For other dystonia types the prevalence ranged from 1–33 per million. CONCLUSIONS: Adult onset cervical dystonia was the most common type of dystonia with relatively high prevalence in Finland compared with other countries. The prevalence of other types of dystonia was similar compared with other European studies. The higher prevalence of cervical dystonia may be partially explained by the better coverage of patients in public health care, but genetic and exogenous factors might contribute to it.