Role of Female Reproductive Hormones in Musicians' Dystonia

Musicians' dystonia is an occupational focal dystonia affecting men more often than women. METHODS: We identified all patients presenting with musicians' dystonia and prospectively collected data on reproductive and menstrual history from the women with musician's dystonia and female musicians without dystonia. RESULTS: 149 men and 23 women (13.37%) with musician's dystonia where identified. We did not identify any effect of contraceptive hormones, pregnancy, or menstrual phases on dystonia symptoms, but as compared with women without dystonia, those with musician's dystonia reported oligomenorrhea and menometrorrhagia significantly less frequently. CONCLUSIONS: Our data reinforce the relation between sex hormones variations and musicians' dystonia. This link should be further explored to identify mechanisms and assess whether certain hormonal interventions might protect from the manifestation of dystonia.