Table 1.
Demographics of the different groups.
| Familial Musician’s hand dystonia | Sporadic Musician’s hand dystonia | Sporadic Writer’s cramp | Healthy first-degree family members | Healthy musicians | Healthy nonMusicians | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | 12 | 9 | 15 | 27 | 12 | 12 |
| Gender (F/M) | 4/8 | 3/6 | 8/7 | 15/12 | 5/7 | 5/7 |
| Age, y, mean ± SD (R) | 49 ± 4 (40–55) | 52 ± 13 (35–80) | 52 ± 15 (26–73) | 41 ± 20 (19–77) | 48 ± 8 (36–59) | 50 ± 5 (40–57) |
| Handedness (right/left/ambidextrous) | 11/0/1 | 9/0/0 | 10/4/1 | 25/2/0 | 11/0/1 | 11/0/1 |
| Side of dystonia (right/left/bilateral) | 6/3/3 | 5/4/0 | 11/2/2 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| Onset age, y, mean ± SD (R) | 31 ± 6 (24–42) | 35 ± 14 (20–66) | 40 ± 13 (20–65) | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| Duration of dystonia, y, mean ± SD (R) | 18 ± 6 (9–28) | 18 ± 6(11–29) | 12 ± 11 (1–34) | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| Family history of dystonia (pos./neg.) | 12/0 | 0/12 | 0/15 | 27/0 | 2/10 | 0/12 |
| Musical activity (professional-/amateur-/non-musician) | 12/0/0 | 9/0/0 | 0/0/16 | 3/14/10 | 12/0/0 | 0/0/12 |
| Instrument group: | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | n.a. | |
| Woodwind | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | ||
| String | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Brass | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Plucking | 4 | |||||
| Keyboard | 1 | |||||
| Drum | ||||||
| Age of first practice on the instrument, y, mean ± SD (R) | 10 ± 3(7–18) | 10 ± 2(7–14) | n.a. | 7 ± 2(6–12) | 9 ± 3(5–17) | n.a. |
Y = years, SD = standard deviation, R = range, n.a. = not applicable.