Essential tremor: phenotypic expression in a clinical cohort.
OBJECTIVE
Examine the characteristics of an essential tremor (ET) clinical cohort including base-rate variability of several commonly accepted diagnostic criteria.


METHODS
A clinical series of 487 consecutive individuals diagnosed with ET were included for study.


RESULTS
The sample was 53% male, had a mean age of onset of 52, and a mean age of 71. Half of the sample had a family history of ET. Half presented with asymmetrical disease and tremor affected the arms (97%), voice (62%), and head or neck (48%). There was considerable variability in the base rate of individuals fulfilling various commonly used diagnostic criteria of ET.


CONCLUSIONS
The sample was deemed representative of ET clinical cohorts. Asymmetric disease was common, and there was considerable base-rate variation across traditional ET diagnostic criteria.
Whaley
N R
NR
Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, 4500 San Pablo Road, Jacksonville, FL 32225, USA. whaley.nathaniel@mayo.edu
Putzke
John D
JD
Baba
Yasuhiko
Y
Wszolek
Zbigniew K
ZK
Uitti
Ryan J
RJ
D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003710:Demography; D018450:Disease Progression; D020329:Essential Tremor / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype