SynthesisEuropean journal of neurology2026
Cognitive Motor Dissociation in Disorders of Consciousness: An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in European journal of neurology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionIn patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC), behavioral assessment often underestimates awareness when motor output is absent or unreliable. Cognitive motor dissociation (CMD) refers to patients who appear unresponsive but demonstrate volitional brain responses during neurodiagnostic tests. We characterized clinical and methodological factors associated with CMD detection.
methodsStudies published between January 2000 and May 2026 were identified through MEDLINE, Embase, and Scopus. Individual participant data were analyzed using mixed-effects logistic regression. Study quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2.
resultsFifty-six studies with 1248 patients (mean age 45.5 years; 66.1% male; 44.5% unresponsive wakefulness syndrome [UWS]) were included. In unadjusted analyses, CMD detection was lower in anoxic (OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.29-0.66) and cerebrovascular (OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.37-0.98) compared to traumatic brain injury, and higher in minimally conscious state minus (MCS-) compared to UWS (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.14-2.35). In multivariable models, anoxic (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.23-0.55) and cerebrovascular (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.32-0.84) etiologies remained independently associated with lower CMD detection, while MCS- remained associated with higher detection (OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.02-2.23). Time since injury, diagnostic modality and task paradigms were not independently associated with CMD detection. Overall, the studies showed a relatively low risk of bias.
conclusionsCMD is common but varies by etiology and clinical state. Its detection appears to be independent of the time of injury, the task paradigm, and the diagnostic modality, highlighting the importance of standardized protocols and longitudinal studies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.