Electrophysiological approach to the study of essential tremor in children and adolescents

Surface electromyography and accelerometry provide essential information on the neurophysiological characteristics of essential tremor. There are many reports on neurophysiological features in adult-onset essential tremor, but to our knowledge there have been no similar investigations of essential tremor in children. We conducted a neurophysiological study of nine children, six males and three females, with definite essential tremor. They were subdivided into two groups according to age: a 'children's group', consisting of four patients aged from 7 to 12 years, and an 'adolescent group', consisting of five patients aged from 14 to 16 years. Finger tremor as opposed to hand tremor was studied. In children the mean tremor frequency was 5.3 Hz (SD 0.5) with arms extended, which increased to 8.2 Hz (SD 1.5) when we added a mass of 300 g. In adolescents the mean tremor frequency was 9.0 Hz (SD 1.4) with arms extended, and 7.2 Hz (SD 1.8) with added mass. We discuss several hypotheses to find an explanation for these results.