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Tremor in neuropathies of different origin
- 1 Department of Neurology, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland
- Department of Automatics, University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland
open access
Abstract
Tremor accompanies some polyneuropathies, but its prevalence and its clinical and electrophysiological manifestations are not well known. The aim of the study was to assess the occurrence and characteristics of hand tremor in patients with polyneuropathy of different origins, as well as relations between the occurrence of tremors and clinical and neurographic findings of polyneuropathy.
Material and methodsEighty-nine patients diagnosed with polyneuropathy of known aetiology, and 50 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers were included in the study. All subjects were interviewed regarding the occurrence of tremor. Tremor was assessed clinically and objectively using a triaxial accelerometer and electromyographic (EMG) recordings. A load test with a weight of 500 g was performed in order to differentiate between enhanced physiological tremor (EPT) and essential tremor-like (ET-L) tremor.
ResultsTremor was found in 59.5% of patients in clinical assessment and in 74% of patients in objective evaluation, significantly more often than in controls (12%). Tremor was detected in all types of polyneuropathy apart from paraproteinaemic IgM polyneuropathy. Tremor was postural (70%), but resting (51%) or kinetic (32%) tremor was also present. In the majority of cases, the severity of the tremor was mild. Essential tremor-like tremor prevailed in the study group. The occurrence of hand tremor was not related to the axonal or demyelinating type of polyneuropathy, nor to the conduction velocity or other electrophysiological findings of the investigated upper limb nerves.
ConclusionTremor accompanies 60–70% of patients with polyneuropathy; it is mostly postural, ET-L type with mild severity, and unrelated to other typical clinical and electrophysiological findings of neuropathy.
Abstract
Tremor accompanies some polyneuropathies, but its prevalence and its clinical and electrophysiological manifestations are not well known. The aim of the study was to assess the occurrence and characteristics of hand tremor in patients with polyneuropathy of different origins, as well as relations between the occurrence of tremors and clinical and neurographic findings of polyneuropathy.
Material and methodsEighty-nine patients diagnosed with polyneuropathy of known aetiology, and 50 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers were included in the study. All subjects were interviewed regarding the occurrence of tremor. Tremor was assessed clinically and objectively using a triaxial accelerometer and electromyographic (EMG) recordings. A load test with a weight of 500 g was performed in order to differentiate between enhanced physiological tremor (EPT) and essential tremor-like (ET-L) tremor.
ResultsTremor was found in 59.5% of patients in clinical assessment and in 74% of patients in objective evaluation, significantly more often than in controls (12%). Tremor was detected in all types of polyneuropathy apart from paraproteinaemic IgM polyneuropathy. Tremor was postural (70%), but resting (51%) or kinetic (32%) tremor was also present. In the majority of cases, the severity of the tremor was mild. Essential tremor-like tremor prevailed in the study group. The occurrence of hand tremor was not related to the axonal or demyelinating type of polyneuropathy, nor to the conduction velocity or other electrophysiological findings of the investigated upper limb nerves.
ConclusionTremor accompanies 60–70% of patients with polyneuropathy; it is mostly postural, ET-L type with mild severity, and unrelated to other typical clinical and electrophysiological findings of neuropathy.
Keywords
neuropathy, polyneuropathy, tremor, essential tremor
Title
Tremor in neuropathies of different origin
Journal
Neurologia i Neurochirurgia Polska
Issue
Pages
525-533
Page views
274
Article views/downloads
1071
DOI
10.5114/ninp.2013.34695
Bibliographic record
Neurol Neurochir Pol 2013;47(6):525-533.
Keywords
neuropathy
polyneuropathy
tremor
essential tremor
Authors
Anna Wasielewska
Monika Rudzińska
Tomasz Tomaszewski
Krzysztof Banaszkiewicz
Magdalena Wójcik-Pędziwiatr
Małgorzata Dec-Cwiek
Anna Zajączkowska
Andrzej Izworski
Andrzej Szczudlik