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Effects of acute hypoxia on postural and kinetic tremor

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Abstract

Human physiological tremor is a complex phenomenon that is modulated by numerous mechanical, neurophysiological, and environmental conditions. Researchers investigating tremor have suggested that acute hypoxia increases tremor amplitude. Based on the results of prior studies, we hypothesized that human participants exposed to a simulated altitude of 4,500 m would display an increased tremor amplitude within the 6–12 Hz frequency range. Postural and kinetic tremors were recorded with a laser system in 23 healthy male participants before, during, and after 1 h of altitude-induced hypoxia. A large panel of tremor characteristics was used to investigate the effect of hypoxia. Acute hypoxia increased tremor frequency content between 6 and 12 Hz during both postural and kinetic tremor tasks (P < 0.05, F = 6.142, Eta2 = 0.24 and P < 0.05, F = 3.767 Eta2 = 0.14, respectively). Although the physiological mechanisms underlying the observed changes in tremor are not completely elucidated yet, this study confirms that acute hypoxia increases tremor frequency in the 6–12 Hz range. Furthermore, this study indicates that changes in physiological tremor can be detected at lower hypoxemic levels than previously reported (blood saturation in oxygen = 80.9%). The effects of hypoxia mainly result from a cascade of events starting with the activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis causing in turn an increase in catecholamine release, leading to an augmentation of tremor amplitude in the 6- to12-Hz interval and heart rate increase.

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Notes

  1. Please note that the description of the quantification of the changes in terms of ‘better or worse performance’ regarding tremor characteristics is stated here as an indication only. Though they could be adapted in describing pathological tremor such characterizations would be too speculative to be used to fully describe tremor staying within the physiological range

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Mr. John Patrick for his help in conducting the experiment, Mr. Michael Corbacio for his assistance with LabView and Matlab programming, and Mr. Lynn Keenliside for his technical contributions and expertise. This work was funded in-part by Defence Research and Development Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Research Fund and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Imaging Program, Lawson Health Research Institute, St. Joseph’s Health Care, 268 Grosvenor St., London, Ontario, N6A 4V2, Canada

    A. Legros, H. R. Marshall, A. W. Thomas, F. S. Prato & R. Z. Stodilka

  2. Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond St., London, Ontario, N6A 5C1, Canada

    A. Legros, H. R. Marshall, A. W. Thomas, F. S. Prato & R. Z. Stodilka

  3. IMS Laboratory, Bordeaux Polytechnic Institute, Bordeaux University, 16 avenue Pey-Berland, 33607, Pessac Cedex, France

    A. Beuter

  4. Department of kinesiology, University of Western Ontario, 1133 Sheppard Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M3M 3B9, Canada

    J. Gow

  5. Defense Research and Development Canada, 1133 Sheppard Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M3M 3B9, Canada

    B. Cheung

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  1. A. Legros
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Correspondence to A. Legros.

Additional information

Communicated by Susan Ward.

Appendix

Appendix

Characteristics computed on tremor time seriesFootnote 1

Amplitude:

Root Mean Square of the filtered position time series centered on their mean. Computed on position data filtered between 2 (3 for kinetic tremor) and 20 Hz. Larger values correspond to worse performance

Drift:

Quantifies the amplitude of the drift of the finger (slow movements with frequencies <0.1 Hz). Computed on position data only in the postural tremor condition. Larger values correspond to worse performance

Median frequency:

Computed on tremor velocity power spectrum between 2 (3 for kinetic tremor) and 20 Hz. Determines the value at which 50% of the power is below this frequency and 50% is above. Smaller values usually correspond to worse performance

Amplitude fluctuations:

Characterizes the variability of tremor amplitude over time. It is the standard deviation of the envelope around tremor oscillations. Computed on position data. Larger values correspond to worse performance

Frequency concentration:

Computed on tremor velocity power spectrum between 2 and 20 Hz. Quantifies the degree of organization of tremor by computing the width of the interval containing 68% of the power of the spectrum between 2 (3 for kinetic tremor) and 20 Hz. Smaller values correspond to worse performance

Proportional power in 2–4 Hz range:

Computed on tremor velocity power spectrum between 2 and 20 Hz. Proportion of the power contained in this range compared with the spectrum between 2 (3 for kinetic tremor) and 20 Hz. Larger values usually correspond to worse performance

Proportional power in 4–6 Hz range:

Computed on tremor velocity power spectrum between 2 and 20 Hz. Proportion of the power contained in this range compared with the spectrum between 2 (3 for kinetic tremor) and 20 Hz. Larger values usually correspond to worse performance

Proportional power in 6–12 Hz range:

Computed on tremor velocity power spectrum between 2 (3 for kinetic tremor) and 20 Hz. Proportion of the power contained in this range compared with the spectrum between 2 (3 for kinetic tremor) and 20 Hz. Smaller values usually correspond to worse performance

Mean Power in the 6–12 Hz range:

Computed on tremor velocity power spectrum between 2 (3 for kinetic tremor) and 20 Hz. Average of the power contained in this frequency range. It is the range containing the physiological tremor components. Computed on velocity data filtered between 2 (3 for kinetic tremor) and 20 Hz. Larger values correspond to worse performance

Proportional power in 12–20 Hz range:

Computed on tremor velocity power spectrum between 2 and 20 Hz. Proportion of the power contained in this range compared with the spectrum between 2 (3 for kinetic tremor) and 20 Hz. Larger values usually correspond to worse performance

Mean tracking error:

Mean of the absolute difference between the finger position and the reference position during a recording. Computed on position data filtered between 3 and 20 Hz. Larger values correspond to worse performance

Delay:

Average delay between the displacement of the target on the screen and the displacement of the subject’s index finger. Computed on position data filtered between 3 and 20 Hz. Larger values correspond to worse performance.

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Legros, A., Marshall, H.R., Beuter, A. et al. Effects of acute hypoxia on postural and kinetic tremor. Eur J Appl Physiol 110, 109–119 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-010-1475-x

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