ABSTRACT
Objective: To determine the frequency of movement disorders among adult ethnic Zambians referred to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) Lusaka; Zambia and logged as patients with primary neurological disorders. Background: The Human Genome Project data showed that humans are identical across 99.9of their genome. There is considerable evidence that despite being genetically identical; race and ethnicity appears to be an important factor in the prevalence and clinical characteristics of many; if not most; disorders. Literature review clearly shows that ethnicity has an essential role in the phenotypic expression of many movement disorders and their prevalence appears to be lowest amongst Africans. Patients and setting: Patients attending the neurology clinic and admitted to the UTH with various neurological disorders for 5 years (January 1999-January 2004) were analysed. We evaluated patients whose symptoms met the appropriate diagnostic criteria for movement disorders and experienced symptoms at least for three days. Results: Records were available for 4654 patients with various neurological disorders attending neurological clinic. Of the total number of patients seen; 163 (3.5) satisfied the criteria for movement disorders. The most frequent syndromes of the basal ganglia were: Parkinson's disease (31); tremor (24); chorea (20); and dystonia (16.5). Myoclonus; tic; tardive dyskinesia; and other movement disorders (8.5) were rare in adult Zambian patients. In 25 patients (11.3) akinetic-rigid syndromes and hyperkinetic movement disorders were manifestations of HIV/AIDS. Conclusions: Among patients referred for neurological services at Zambia's tertiary care teaching facility; movement disorders are relatively rare. Our study may seem to suggest that Parkinson's disease is one of the commonest movement disorders though further studies are needed to explore the role of genetics and ethnicity in the prevalence of these disorders. The presence of HIV/AIDS and its contribution to movement disorders needs to be studied further