Objective: To elucidate the clinical characteristics of those patients previously diagnosed with essential tremor ( ET ) that finally developed a Parkinson´s disease during the follow up.

Background: Although essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are considered distinct disorders, there is overlap in some clinical features. In some PD patients, a long-standing postural tremor in the hands may precede the onset of parkinsonian features . Large families with both ET and PD phenotypes have been described and autopsy . Studies have demonstrated Lewy body pathology in brains of ET patients. Functional neuroimaging suggests that some ET patients have dopaminergic deficit.

Method: We have performed an observational ,cohort based,  retrospective study .
We have evaluated the clinical records of ET patients that had been followed up at the Movement Disorders clinic at Hospital Infanta Sofia between 2008-2021
We have collected age , sex , years family story of tremor or any other neurolgical condition , positive response to alcohol drinks , age of tremor onset , asymetry ., the presence of pre- motor symptoms
We used the SPSS to carry out the statistical analysis.

Results: A total of 388 clinical records were evaluated. Finally 316 were include. We have decided not to regist data from those subjects that the follow up was missed or data were incomplete. 60.5% men and 39.5% women, with a mean age of 62.59 ± 8.9 years and a mean of 5.49 ± 4.3 years of disease evolution .106 patients were diagnosed with PD during follow up.
We found that those who developed PD during follow up had less familiar history of tremor, began with asymetric tremor , that remain the only sing in the examination for years and presented more non motor features ( REM sleep behavioural disorder and constipation) .

Conclusion: The results of this work point that although some patients share common features in the initial stages , from the beginning certain characteristics such as the absence of family history , tremor asymetry and the presence of non – motor symptoms make more likely that the essential tremor will convert into Parkinson ‘s disease .

References: 1-Essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease: are they associated?].Labiano-Fontcuberta A, Benito-León J.Rev Neurol. 2012 Oct 16;55(8):479-89.
2-Revisiting the relationship between essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease.Fekete R, Jankovic J.Mov Disord. 2011 Feb 15;26(3):391-8. doi: 10.1002/mds.23512.
3- A longitudinal study of tremor frequencies in Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor.Hellwig B, Mund P, Schelter B, Guschlbauer B, Timmer J, Lücking CH.Clin Neurophysiol. 2009 Feb;120(2):431-5. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2008.11.002. Epub 2008 Dec 19.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/clinical-charactersitics-of-essential-tremor-patients-that-develope-parkinsons-disease-a-cohort-based-study/