title: Essential tremor prevalence is low in Arabic villages in Israel: door-to-door neurological examinations.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, Hadera, 38100, Israel. irivka@tx.technion.ac.il
authors.forename: Rivka
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Inzelberg
authors.forename: Aziz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mazarib
authors.forename: Magda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Masarwa
authors.forename: Amin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abuful
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Strugatsky
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Friedland
mesh_terms: 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