Anticholinergic agents can induce oromandibular dyskinesia

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Oromandibular dyskinesia (OMD) is often associated with dopamine receptor antagonists.
• Anticholinergic medications are rarely implicated as a cause of OMD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the potential link between anticholinergic medication use and the development of OMD.
• To describe the clinical features of OMD induced by anticholinergic agents in parkinsonian and non-parkinsonian patients.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of clinical features in three patients (two parkinsonian, one non-parkinsonian) who developed OMD after anticholinergic drug initiation.
• Observation of symptom changes following discontinuation of the suspected anticholinergic medication.

Main Results:

• All three patients developed oromandibular symptoms temporally related to the addition of anticholinergic agents.
• Symptoms improved after the causative anticholinergic drugs were stopped.
• Levodopa alone did not induce dyskinesia but exacerbated anticholinergic-associated dyskinesia in one case.

Conclusions:

• Anticholinergic agents may induce oromandibular dyskinesia in both parkinsonian and non-parkinsonian individuals.
• The observed amelioration of OMD symptoms upon cessation of anticholinergics supports an iatrogenic cause.
• No other precipitating factors for OMD were identified in these cases.