Interoceptive sensitivity in patients with cervical dystonia.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychophysiology
• Clinical Medicine

Background:

• Interoceptive sensitivity (IS) involves perceiving internal bodily sensations, often measured via heartbeat detection tasks.
• Cervical dystonia (CD) is a neurological disorder affecting neck muscles.
• Understanding IS in CD may reveal insights into sensory processing in movement disorders.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate interoceptive sensitivity (IS) in patients with cervical dystonia (CD).
• To compare IS levels between CD patients and healthy controls (HC).
• To explore correlations between IS and clinical/emotional factors in CD, and assess test-retest reliability.

Main Methods:

• Twenty CD patients and 20 HC underwent a standardized heartbeat detection task.
• Participants received clinical, emotional, and psychiatric evaluations.
• IS was retested in a subgroup after 4-6 months, and tested in HC mimicking dystonic posture.

Main Results:

• Interoceptive sensitivity (IS) was significantly lower in CD patients compared to HC.
• An IS value of 0.52 effectively differentiated CD patients from HC.
• No correlations were found between IS and demographic, clinical, or emotional features in CD patients. Retest reliability was confirmed, and simulated dystonic posture did not affect IS in HC.

Conclusions:

• Interoceptive sensitivity (IS) is reduced in cervical dystonia (CD) patients.
• This reduction may stem from altered functional connectivity within the basal ganglia-limbic-insula circuits.
• IS assessment could be a valuable biomarker in CD.