Spectrum of Movement Disorders in two Movement Disorders Centers in the Philippines

Presently, there are no epidemiologic data on the prevalence of movement disorders in the Philippines. We aim to describe the most common phenomenologies and movement disorders in two specialty centers in Metro Manila dedicated to movement disorders.

We investigated the clinical spectrum and etiologies of movement disorders referred to our centers from January 2007-December 2019 using a standardized collection form.

A total of 1438 patients presenting with complaints relating to movement disorders were evaluated between 2007 to 2019. There were 770 (53.5%) men. The mean age was 57.1 ± 17.9 years. The most common movement disorders were parkinsonism (n=677, 47.1%), myoclonus (n=212, 14.7%) and tremor (n=208, 14.5%). The least common was restless legs syndrome (n=4, 0.3%). There were 78 (37.7% of total dystonia cases) X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism patients referred to our clinic. Majority of the botulinum toxin injections were for hemifacial spasms (n=206). A small number of patients (n=41) were also seen at the center for deep brain stimulation programming.

The most common movement disorders managed were parkinsonism, myoclonus and tremor. The most common diagnoses were Parkinson's disease, hemifacial spasm and essential tremor. This study highlights the spectrum of movement disorders encountered in two specialty clinics in two Philippine tertiary hospitals. Given these varied cases, there is also a need for more movement specialists and centers dedicated to movement disorders to manage these cases.