Abstract / Summary
Abstract Background Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) is a common and disabling condition increasingly recognised to coexist with multiple comorbidities, though metabolic, reproductive and endocrine profiles remain underexplored. Methods A retrospective case record review was conducted of 282 adults with neurologist-confirmed FND attending a tertiary neuropsychiatry service. Data on metabolic, reproductive and endocrine comorbidities were extracted from clinical records. Associations between metabolic/endocrine comorbidities and FND subtypes were examined using Fisher’s exact tests with false discovery rate correction. Selected associations with functional cognitive disorder (FCD) were further examined using multivariable logistic regression. Results Metabolic and endocrine disorders were recorded in 25.5% and 24.8% of the cohort, respectively. Diabetes mellitus (12.4%), thyroid dysfunction (11.7%) and hypertension (10.6%) were the most prevalent individual conditions. Several nominal associations were observed between FND subtypes and metabolic/endocrine comorbidities, but none remained statistically significant after correction for multiple comparisons. FCD showed the strongest association with dyslipidaemia (29.2% vs. 7.4%; OR 5.18, 95% CI 1.91–14.03; unadjusted p = 0.003), which persisted after adjustment for age and sex (aOR 3.75, 95% CI 1.29–10.90; p = 0.015), although this finding remained exploratory and the corresponding unadjusted association did not survive FDR correction. Conclusions Metabolic, reproductive and endocrine comorbidities were commonly recorded in adults with FND. Exploratory analyses suggest that metabolic comorbidity may vary across FND subtypes, particularly in relation to FCD and dyslipidaemia, but these findings require replication in larger prospective controlled studies.