Risk of incident Parkinson's disease and parkinsonism in essential tremor: a population based study.
BACKGROUND
A longstanding literature suggests an association between essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the risk of incident PD has not been quantified in cases of ET compared with controls.


OBJECTIVE
To estimate the risk of incident PD in a population based cohort study of 3813 older people (including ET cases and controls) in central Spain.


RESULTS
After a median of 3.3 years, 12 (5.8%) of 207 ET cases developed parkinsonism compared with 56 (1.6%) of 3606 controls (adjusted relative risk (RR) 3.47, 95% CI 1.82 to 6.59; p<0.001). Six (3.0%) of 201 ET cases developed incident PD versus 24 (0.7%) of 3574 controls (adjusted RR 4.27, 95% CI 1.72 to 10.61; p = 0.002).


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with ET were four times more likely than controls to develop incident PD during prospective follow-up. These data confirm and begin to quantify the link between these two diseases.
Benito-León
J
J
Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Madrid, Spain. jbenitol@meditex.es
Louis
E D
ED
Bermejo-Pareja
F
F
D000368:Aged; D020329:Essential Tremor / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010302:Parkinson Disease, Secondary / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D020734:Parkinsonian Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D011153:Population; D012307:Risk Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology