Investigation of Patients Presenting With Acute Functional Neurological Symptoms (FONDA)

Functional Neurological Disorders in Acute Hospital Care

Retrospective Single-center Analysis of Patients Presenting With Acute Neurological Symptoms, Aiming to Characterize the Frequency, Clinical Features, Diagnostic Pathways, and Healthcare Utilization of Patients with Functional Neurological Diseases

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Functional Neurological Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: collection of patient data

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 1000

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Urs Fisch, MD PhD; Phone Number: +41 61 265 2525; Email: urs.fisch@usb.ch

Study Locations

• Switzerland
  • Basel, Switzerland, 4031
    • Recruiting
    • University Hospital Basel
    • Contact: Urs Fisch, MD PhD; Phone Number: +41 61 265 25 25; Email: urs.fisch@usb.ch

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients presenting with acute symptoms

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients older than 16 years old presenting as an emergency case to the University Hospital Basel between 1 January 2012 and 31 March 2026
• with acute neurological symptoms requiring immediate neurological work-up (e.g, acute motor or sensory disturbance, acute speech disorder, acute vestibular disorder, acute cognitive disorder, acute consciousness disorder, acute seizure disorder)
• and a documented diagnostic evaluation during hospitalization.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Documented refusal for further use of health related data for research purposes
• Insufficient documentation to determine diagnosis or clinical course
• Incomplete or inconsistent datasets compromising valid endpoint determination
• Younger than 16 years

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Frequency of FND	The primary endpoint is the proportion of patients presenting with acute neurological symptoms who receive a diagnosis or likely differential diagnosis of Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) during their index hospital admission.	At hospital discharge (index admission), up to 30 days from presentation

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Secondary Outcomes	Diagnostic Process Measures (%): Referral patterns and evaluation of alternative or concurrent neurological diagnoses.	At hospital discharge (index admission), up to 30 days from presentation
Secondary Outcomes	Diagnostic Resource Utilization (%): Clinical examination findings, neuroimaging, neurophysiological testing, and laboratory investigations.	At hospital discharge (index admission), up to 30 days from presentation
Secondary Outcomes	Healthcare Utilization and Outcomes (%): Discharge destination, readmission, outpatient follow-up, and in-hospital mortality.	At hospital discharge (index admission), up to 30 days from presentation
Secondary Outcomes	Quality of Care Associations (%) Demographic and clinical variables associated with diagnostic performance and healthcare utilization.	At hospital discharge (index admission), up to 30 days from presentation
Secondary Outcomes	Comparative Analyses: FND vs Non-FND (%): Differences in diagnostics, resource utilization, escalation of care, and short-term outcomes.	At hospital discharge (index admission), up to 30 days from presentation
Secondary Outcomes	Subtype Analyses (%): Differences across FND subtypes in presentation, diagnostics, management, and outcomes.	At hospital discharge (index admission), up to 30 days from presentation
Secondary Outcomes	Time to Definitive Diagnosis (days)	At hospital discharge (index admission), up to 30 days from presentation
Secondary Outcomes	Length of Hospital Stay (days)	At hospital discharge (index admission), up to 30 days from presentation

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 30, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2050
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2050

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 30, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 15, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): April 20, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 20, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 15, 2026
• Last Verified: April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Somatoform Disorders; Conversion Disorder
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2026-00643

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO