Skip to main content
No access
Clinical and Research Report
Published Date: 10 January 2025

The Population-Based Incidence and Prevalence of Catatonia

Publication: The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences

Abstract

Objective:

Catatonia is a neuropsychiatric disorder that is associated with a range of medical and psychiatric illnesses. Although many single-center studies have been conducted, uncertainty over the population-based incidence and prevalence of the disorder remains. This study reports on the incidence and prevalence rates of catatonia extrapolated from two large epidemiologic studies in the United Kingdom and United States.

Methods:

Incidence rates (defined as the number of catatonic episodes per 100,000 person-years) and prevalence rates (defined as the proportion of individuals with catatonia in a given year) were calculated from the two studies.

Results:

U.K. data showed an incidence of 4.34 (95% CI=3.98–4.72) catatonic episodes per 100,000 person-years with an average 1-year prevalence of 4.39 (95% CI=4.03–4.77) catatonic episodes per 100,000 persons. U.S. data revealed a 1-year prevalence of 5.15 (95% CI=5.08–5.23) catatonia-related hospitalizations per 100,000 persons.

Conclusions:

Catatonia is a rare disorder, qualifying as an orphan disease under both European Medicines Agency and U.S. Food and Drug Administration criteria. Further research is needed to rigorously define the epidemiology of catatonia in other populations.

Get full access to this content

View all available purchase options and get full access to this content.

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences
Go to The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences
The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences

History

Received: 12 April 2024
Revision received: 16 September 2024
Revision received: 8 October 2024
Accepted: 8 October 2024
Published online: 10 January 2025

Keywords

  1. Catatonia
  2. Epidemiology
  3. Incidence
  4. Neuropsychiatric disorders
  5. Prevalence

Authors

Details

James Luccarelli, M.D., D.Phil. jluccarelli@mgb.org
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Luccarelli); Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center at Village of Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville (Smith); Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Kalinich); Lille Neuroscience and Cognition, University of Lille, Lille, France (Amad); Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London (Rogers).
Joshua R. Smith, M.D.
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Luccarelli); Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center at Village of Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville (Smith); Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Kalinich); Lille Neuroscience and Cognition, University of Lille, Lille, France (Amad); Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London (Rogers).
Mark Kalinich, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Luccarelli); Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center at Village of Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville (Smith); Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Kalinich); Lille Neuroscience and Cognition, University of Lille, Lille, France (Amad); Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London (Rogers).
Ali Amad, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Luccarelli); Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center at Village of Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville (Smith); Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Kalinich); Lille Neuroscience and Cognition, University of Lille, Lille, France (Amad); Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London (Rogers).
Jonathan P. Rogers, M.B.B.Chir., Ph.D.
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Luccarelli); Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center at Village of Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville (Smith); Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Kalinich); Lille Neuroscience and Cognition, University of Lille, Lille, France (Amad); Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London (Rogers).

Notes

Send correspondence to Dr. Luccarelli (jluccarelli@mgb.org).

Competing Interests

Dr. Luccarelli reports receiving funding from Harvard Medical School, the Rappaport Foundation, and the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research and receiving equity in Revival Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Smith reports receiving funding from the National Institute of Child and Human Development and support from Axial and Roche. Dr. Kalinich reports receiving compensation from Watershed Informatics and equity from Watershed Informatics and Revival Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Rogers reports receiving research funding from the Wellcome Trust and NIHR; royalties from Taylor & Francis; payment for reviewing from Johns Hopkins University Press; and speaker fees from the Alberta Psychiatric Association, Infomed Research and Training Ltd., North East London NHS Foundation Trust, and Vanderbilt Medical Center. Dr. Amad reports no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Funding Information

This work was supported by NIMH grant T32 MH112485 (to Dr. Luccarelli). This report represents independent research funded in part by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS (National Health Service) Foundation Trust and King’s College London (to Dr. Rogers).The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, or the Department of Health and Social Care. The sponsors had no role in the study design; writing of the report; or data collection, analysis, or interpretation.

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Export Citations

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.

Format
Citation style
Style
Copy to clipboard

View Options

Login options

Already a subscriber? Access your subscription through your login credentials or your institution for full access to this article.

Personal login Institutional Login Open Athens login
Purchase Options

Purchase this article to access the full text.

PPV Articles - Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences

PPV Articles - Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences

Not a subscriber?

Subscribe Now / Learn More

PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5-TR® library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development.

Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing PsychiatryOnline@psych.org or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.).

View options

PDF/EPUB

View PDF/EPUB

Full Text

View Full Text

Figures

Tables

Media

Share

Share

Share article link

Share