Essential tremor prevalence is low in Arabic villages in Israel: door-to-door neurological examinations.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the prevalence of essential tremor (ET) in Arabic villages of Wadi Ara.


BACKGROUND
The prevalence ET which is higher than Parkinson's disease in North America and Europe, differs according to study population and methodology. Since hospital record based epidemiology carries referral bias and might provide low estimates of ET prevalence, we carried a population based survey.


METHODS
This door-to-door survey comprised the Arabic villages of Wadi Ara in Northern Israel. Consecutive residents who agreed to participate in the study and were older than 64 years at prevalence day, underwent neurological examination. Medical and family history, medication and response to medication were recorded.


RESULTS
Of the 444 subjects that were approached, 428 agreed to participate in the study (refusal rate 3.6%). Four were excluded owing to severe systemic disease. The study population consisted of 424 subjects (54% men, mean age 74+/-7 years). A clearly oscillatory action tremor of moderate amplitude was observed in 8 patients (age 75+/-7 years). Six patients had another possible cause of tremor. The prevalence of ET was calculated as 1.89% (95% CI 1.76-2.0) when all tremor cases were accepted as possible ET and 0.47% (95 CI 0.43-0.52) when patients with other causes of tremor were excluded.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of ET in Arabic villages of Wadi Ara is low.
Inzelberg
Rivka
R
Department of Neurology, Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, Hadera, 38100, Israel. irivka@tx.technion.ac.il
Mazarib
Aziz
A
Masarwa
Magda
M
Abuful
Amin
A
Strugatsky
Rosa
R
Friedland
Robert F
RF
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D020329:Essential Tremor / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009460:Neurologic Examination