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Evaluation of rest tremor in different positions in Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor plus

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Abstract

Background

Rest tremor (RT) can be observed in several positions (seated, standing, lying down) but it is unknown whether the tremor features may vary across them. This study aimed to compare the RT electrophysiological features across different positions in tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease (PD) and essential tremor plus (ET with RT, rET).

Methods

We consecutively enrolled 90 tremor-dominant PD and 24 rET patients. The RT presence was evaluated in three positions: with the patient seated, the arm flexed at 90°, the forearm supported against gravity, and the hand hanging down from the chair armrest (hand-hanging position), in lying down supine and in standing position. RT electrophysiological features (amplitude, frequency, burst duration, pattern) were compared between the two patient groups and across the different positions.

Results

All PD and rET patients showed RT in hand-hanging position. Supine and standing RT were significantly more common in PD (67.8% and 75.6%, respectively) than in rET patients (37.5% and 45.8%, respectively). RT amplitude, frequency and pattern were significantly different between groups in hand-hanging position whereas only pattern was significantly different between PD and rET in both standing and supine positions. In each patient group, all RT electrophysiological features did not significantly vary across different recording positions (p > 0.05).

Discussion

In our study, PD and rET showed RT in hand-hanging, supine, and standing positions. RT pattern was the only electrophysiological feature significantly different between PD and rET patients in all these positions, enabling clinicians to perform the RT analysis for diagnostic purposes in different tremor positions.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Rita Nisticò and Andrea Quattrone contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Molecular Bioimaging and Physiology, National Research Council (IBFM-CNR), Catanzaro, Italy

    Rita Nisticò & Aldo Quattrone

  2. Institute of Neurology, University “Magna Graecia”, Catanzaro, Italy

    Andrea Quattrone

  3. Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK

    Andrea Quattrone

  4. Neuroscience Research Center, University “Magna Graecia”, Viale Europa, 88100, Catanzaro, Italy

    Marianna Crasà, Marida De Maria & Aldo Quattrone

  5. Biotecnomed S.C.aR.L., Catanzaro, Italy

    Basilio Vescio

Authors
  1. Rita Nisticò
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  2. Andrea Quattrone
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  3. Marianna Crasà
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  4. Marida De Maria
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  5. Basilio Vescio
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  6. Aldo Quattrone
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Contributions

Rita Nisticò, Andrea Quattrone, and Aldo Quattrone contributed to the study conception and design. All authors contributed to the data collection and analysis. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Rita Nisticò and Andrea Quattrone. All authors revised the article critically for intellectual content and approved the final version of the manuscript to be submitted.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aldo Quattrone.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. All study procedures and ethical aspects were approved by the institutional review board of Magna Graecia University, Catanzaro, Italy.

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Written informed consent was obtained from each participant included in the study.

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All authors have approved the manuscript before submission, including the names and order of authors; all gave explicit consent to submit and they obtained consent from the responsible authorities at the institute/organization where the work has been carried out.

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Nisticò, R., Quattrone, A., Crasà, M. et al. Evaluation of rest tremor in different positions in Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor plus. Neurol Sci 43, 3621–3627 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-022-05885-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-022-05885-4

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