title: Assessing tremor severity.
abstract: A clinical rating scale which measured the severity of tremor in 20 patients (12 with essential tremor and 8 with "dystonic" tremor) was assessed at specific anatomical sites for both inter and intra-rater reliability using four raters. The scores obtained with the scale were compared with the results of upper limb accelerometry, an activity of daily living self-questionnaire and estimates of the tremor induced impairment in writing and drawing specimens. The results show that, for the purposes of routine assessment and therapeutic trials, a clinical rating scale can produce reliable results which are a more valid index of tremor induced disability than standard postural accelerometry.
authors.affiliation: MRC Human Movement and Balance Unit, Institute of Neurology, London, UK.
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Bain
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Findley
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Atchison
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Behari
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vidailhet
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gresty
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Rothwell
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Marsden
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014202:Tremor / Q000503:physiopathology*