Related Experiment Videos
Essential Tremor and Parkinson's Disease: Exploring the Relationship
Arjun Tarakad1, Joseph Jankovic1
1Parkinson's Disease Center and Movement Disorders Clinic, Baylor College of Medicine Houston, TX, USA.
Tremor and Other Hyperkinetic Movements (New York, N.Y.)
|January 16, 2019
Summary
Essential tremor (ET) may increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease (PD). Evidence suggests a link between these movement disorders, though mechanisms remain unclear.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Movement Disorders Research
Background:
- Longstanding controversy exists regarding the link between essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson's disease (PD).
- Diagnostic inconsistencies may contribute to difficulties in defining the ET-PD relationship.
- Both are common movement disorders with overlapping features.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review clinical, epidemiologic, imaging, pathologic, and genetic evidence addressing the relationship between ET and PD.
- To evaluate the evidence supporting an association between ET and the development of PD.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of articles identified via PubMed search.
- Search terms: "essential tremor" AND "Parkinson's disease".
- Included English-language articles published between 1960 and September 2018.
Main Results:
- Evidence suggests some ET patients have an increased risk of developing PD later in life.
- Supporting evidence includes overlapping motor/non-motor features, high prevalence of REM sleep behavior disorder in ET patients (26-43%), increased PD prevalence in those with antecedent ET, and Lewy bodies in some ET patients (15-24%).
Conclusions:
- A substantial body of evidence supports an association between ET and PD in a subset of patients.
- The precise nature and pathogenic mechanisms of the ET-PD relationship require further investigation.