Mild motor signs and depression: more than just medication side effects?

Antonina Luca; Maria Luca; Siegfried Kasper; Joseph Zohar; Daniel Souery; Stuart Montgomery; Panagiotis Ferentinos; Dan Rujescu; Julien Mendlewicz; Raffaella Zanardi; Raffaella Ferri; Bartolo Lanuzza; Basilio Pecorino; Bernhard T. Baune; Giuseppe Fanelli; Chiara Fabbri; Alessandro Serretti

doi:10.1007/s00406-025-02015-x

Mild motor signs and depression: more than just medication side effects?

Antonina Luca, Maria Luca, Siegfried Kasper, Joseph Zohar, Daniel Souery, Stuart Montgomery, Panagiotis Ferentinos, Dan Rujescu, Julien Mendlewicz, Raffaella Zanardi, Raffaella Ferri, Bartolo Lanuzza, Basilio Pecorino, Bernhard T. Baune, Giuseppe Fanelli, Chiara Fabbri, Alessandro Serretti^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Clinical Departments

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The relationship between major depressive disorder (MDD) and mild motor signs (MMS) remains to be elucidated. The present study aims to assess the association between neurological symptoms and medications and treatment response. Neurological signs in 790 patients with MDD were correlated with treatment outcome. Three hundred ten (39.2%) were responders and 480 (60.8%) were non-responders. 342 (43.3%) presented neurological signs. In the whole sample negative associations between dystonia and rigidity and various medications was observed. Non-response was associated with dystonia, rigidity, and hypokinesia independent from age and medications. This study highlighted an association between MMS and specific medications. Moreover, MMS were associated with non-response to treatment, regardless of medication use. This may suggest that a subgroup of patients with MDD may respond less to therapy because of an underlying still undetected neurological disorder.

Original language	English
Journal	European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-025-02015-x
State	Accepted/In press - 2025

Funding

Funders	Funder number
European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program	101,057,454

Keywords

Antidepressants
Major depression
Mild motor signs
Neurological side effects
Parkinsonism

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10.1007/s00406-025-02015-x

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Luca, A., Luca, M., Kasper, S., Zohar, J., Souery, D., Montgomery, S., Ferentinos, P., Rujescu, D., Mendlewicz, J., Zanardi, R., Ferri, R., Lanuzza, B., Pecorino, B., Baune, B. T., Fanelli, G., Fabbri, C., & Serretti, A. (Accepted/In press). Mild motor signs and depression: more than just medication side effects? European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-025-02015-x

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title = "Mild motor signs and depression: more than just medication side effects?",

abstract = "The relationship between major depressive disorder (MDD) and mild motor signs (MMS) remains to be elucidated. The present study aims to assess the association between neurological symptoms and medications and treatment response. Neurological signs in 790 patients with MDD were correlated with treatment outcome. Three hundred ten (39.2%) were responders and 480 (60.8%) were non-responders. 342 (43.3%) presented neurological signs. In the whole sample negative associations between dystonia and rigidity and various medications was observed. Non-response was associated with dystonia, rigidity, and hypokinesia independent from age and medications. This study highlighted an association between MMS and specific medications. Moreover, MMS were associated with non-response to treatment, regardless of medication use. This may suggest that a subgroup of patients with MDD may respond less to therapy because of an underlying still undetected neurological disorder.",

keywords = "Antidepressants, Major depression, Mild motor signs, Neurological side effects, Parkinsonism",

author = "Antonina Luca and Maria Luca and Siegfried Kasper and Joseph Zohar and Daniel Souery and Stuart Montgomery and Panagiotis Ferentinos and Dan Rujescu and Julien Mendlewicz and Raffaella Zanardi and Raffaella Ferri and Bartolo Lanuzza and Basilio Pecorino and Baune, {Bernhard T.} and Giuseppe Fanelli and Chiara Fabbri and Alessandro Serretti",

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doi = "10.1007/s00406-025-02015-x",

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Luca, A, Luca, M, Kasper, S, Zohar, J, Souery, D, Montgomery, S, Ferentinos, P, Rujescu, D, Mendlewicz, J, Zanardi, R, Ferri, R, Lanuzza, B, Pecorino, B, Baune, BT, Fanelli, G, Fabbri, C & Serretti, A 2025, 'Mild motor signs and depression: more than just medication side effects?', European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-025-02015-x

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T2 - more than just medication side effects?

AU - Luca, Antonina

AU - Luca, Maria

AU - Kasper, Siegfried

AU - Zohar, Joseph

AU - Souery, Daniel

AU - Montgomery, Stuart

AU - Ferentinos, Panagiotis

AU - Rujescu, Dan

AU - Mendlewicz, Julien

AU - Zanardi, Raffaella

AU - Ferri, Raffaella

AU - Lanuzza, Bartolo

AU - Pecorino, Basilio

AU - Baune, Bernhard T.

AU - Fanelli, Giuseppe

AU - Fabbri, Chiara

AU - Serretti, Alessandro

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - The relationship between major depressive disorder (MDD) and mild motor signs (MMS) remains to be elucidated. The present study aims to assess the association between neurological symptoms and medications and treatment response. Neurological signs in 790 patients with MDD were correlated with treatment outcome. Three hundred ten (39.2%) were responders and 480 (60.8%) were non-responders. 342 (43.3%) presented neurological signs. In the whole sample negative associations between dystonia and rigidity and various medications was observed. Non-response was associated with dystonia, rigidity, and hypokinesia independent from age and medications. This study highlighted an association between MMS and specific medications. Moreover, MMS were associated with non-response to treatment, regardless of medication use. This may suggest that a subgroup of patients with MDD may respond less to therapy because of an underlying still undetected neurological disorder.

AB - The relationship between major depressive disorder (MDD) and mild motor signs (MMS) remains to be elucidated. The present study aims to assess the association between neurological symptoms and medications and treatment response. Neurological signs in 790 patients with MDD were correlated with treatment outcome. Three hundred ten (39.2%) were responders and 480 (60.8%) were non-responders. 342 (43.3%) presented neurological signs. In the whole sample negative associations between dystonia and rigidity and various medications was observed. Non-response was associated with dystonia, rigidity, and hypokinesia independent from age and medications. This study highlighted an association between MMS and specific medications. Moreover, MMS were associated with non-response to treatment, regardless of medication use. This may suggest that a subgroup of patients with MDD may respond less to therapy because of an underlying still undetected neurological disorder.

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ER -

Mild motor signs and depression: more than just medication side effects?

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