Background Although considered a motor disorder, adult onset isolated focal dystonia has many non-motor symptoms. There is a paucity of neuropsychological research on cognitive processing in adult onset focal dystonia. Methods We employed a battery of clinical and cognitive assessments, including basic and complex social cognition, and assessed 46 patients with adult-onset cervical dystonia, compared to 46 age-, sex–, education-, and premorbid IQ-matched healthy controls. Results Significant between-group differences were observed in relation to measures of memory encoding, recall and recognition, as well as multimodal measures of basic Social Cognition (emotion recognition: face and prosody), but not complex Social Cognition (mentalising). There were no deficits observed in multimodal measures of executive function. Controlling for mood did not affect performance. Conclusion In this multi-dimensional assessment of cognition in cervical dystonia, we report deficits in memory encoding, and in social cognition. Further investigation of social cognitive processes, memory, and sustained attention are required. Longitudinal studies are also needed to further delineate the role of psychological distress on cognitive outcomes and document the cognitive profile over time.

Objectives: Despite similar rates in cancer morbidity, patients with comorbid significant mental health difficulties (SMHD) experience higher mortality rates. This population has largely been neglected in cancer care research. Little is known about how to improve cancer outcomes for patients with SMHD. The aim of this research is to explore the views of healthcare professionals concerning the provision of cancer care to individuals with SMHD in an Irish context.Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with healthcare professionals (n = 28) providing care to people with SMHD and cancer. This included oncology and psychiatry consultants (n = 10); clinical nurse specialists (n = 8); clinical psychologists (n = 6); and medical social workers (n = 4). Data were analysed using thematic analysis.Results: Four overarching themes were generated from the data highlighting the challenges associated with healthcare provision for this cohort. The themes were:Fragmentation of Care, Healthcare Providers' Understanding of SMHD, Complex Nature of Presentation, and Specialised Care Needs. Conclusions:The findings contribute to advancing our understanding of cancer care provision for patients with SMHD. They identify important barriers and facilitators to cancer care provision for this population from the perspective of healthcare professionals in Ireland. These findings will help to shape future research and contribute to improving the quality-of-care for people with SMHD and cancer. K E Y W O R D Scancer, cancer care, health inequities, medical oncology, mental health, mental illness, oncology, psychiatry, psycho-oncology, quality of health care 1 | BACKGROUND Individuals with significant mental health difficulties (SMHD), including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder, experience additional challenges in receipt of healthcare. [1][2][3] Irrespective of factors such as individuals' lifestyle and the risks that long-term use of psychiatric medications pose to health, 4 individuals with SMHD have poorer physical health compared to the general population and experience higher mortality rates. 5,6 Indeed, almost half of all chronic medical conditions go undiagnosed in individuals with SMHD. [7][8][9] This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Highlights For some patients, deficits in cognitive functioning are a distinct feature of CD. Pain and psychological distress are associated with poorer HR-QOL. High levels of depression and anxiety were observed. Findings highlight the importance of addressing non-motor symptoms of CD.

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