title: Characteristics of depressive symptoms in essential tremor.
abstract: Depressive symptoms are common in essential tremor (ET) and may be a primary feature of the underlying disease. However, it is still unclear whether depression in ET and depression in primary affective disorders share common clinical manifestations. Sixty-one depressed ET patients and 112 depressed patients without ET were assessed using the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). We compared the individual depressive symptoms of the two groups by comparing MADRS subitem scores. Although there was no significant difference between the level of cognitive function and the severity of depression, patients with ET had a lower score on items "reported sadness", "inability to feel" and "pessimistic thoughts", and a higher score on items "concentration difficulties" and "lassitude" than those of patients without ET. These results show that depressive symptoms in patients with ET possess distinct characteristics compared to those in depressed patients without ET.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1095 Jiefang Boulevard, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China.
authors.forename: Zai-Wang
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Min-Jie
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Dai-Shi
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Ji-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jin-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.forename: Zhou-Ping
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Rong-Hua
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003071:Cognition; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D020329:Essential Tremor / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales