Elderly Onset of Functional Motor Disorders: Clinical Correlates from the Italian Registry.

Background: Functional motor disorders (FMD) are a frequent neurological condition affecting patients with movement disorders. Commonly described in younger adults, their manifestation can be also associated to an elderly onset.

Objective: To assess the prevalence and describe the clinical manifestations of FMD with elderly and younger onset and their relationship with demographical and clinical variables.

Data-driven clustering of combined Functional Motor Disorders based on the Italian registry.

Introduction: Functional Motor Disorders (FMDs) represent nosological entities with no clear phenotypic characterization, especially in patients with multiple (combined FMDs) motor manifestations. A data-driven approach using cluster analysis of clinical data has been proposed as an analytic method to obtain non-hierarchical unbiased classifications. The study aimed to identify clinical subtypes of combined FMDs using a data-driven approach to overcome possible limits related to "a priori" classifications and clinical overlapping.

Opinion, knowledge, and clinical experience with functional neurological disorders among Italian neurologists: results from an online survey.

Background: Functional neurological disorders (FND) are disabling medical conditions commonly seen in neurological practice. Neurologists play an essential role in managing FND, from establishing a diagnosis to coordination of multidisciplinary team-based treatment for patients. With this study, we investigated the knowledge and the clinical experience of Italian neurologists in managing patients with FND.

Functional gait disorders: Demographic and clinical correlations.

Objective: We aimed to describe the prevalence and clinical-demographical features of patients with functional gait disorders (FGDs) and to compare them to patients with functional motor disorders (FMDs) without FGDs (No-FGDs).

Methods: In this multicenter observational study, we enrolled patients with a clinically definite diagnosis of FMDs in 25 tertiary movement disorders centers in Italy. Each subject with FMDs underwent a comprehensive clinical assessment, including screening for different subtypes of functional gait disorders.

Functional motor phenotypes: to lump or to split?

Introduction: Functional motor disorders (FMDs) are usually categorized according to the predominant phenomenology; however, it is unclear whether this phenotypic classification mirrors the underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms.

Objective: To compare the characteristics of patients with different FMDs phenotypes and without co-morbid neurological disorders, aiming to answer the question of whether they represent different expressions of the same disorder or reflect distinct entities.

Methods: Consecutive outpatients with a clinically definite diagnosis of FMDs were included in the Italian registry of functional motor disorders (IRFMD), a multicenter data collection platform gathering several clinical and demographic variables.