Session Information
Date: Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Session Title: Tremor
Session Time: 1:45pm-3:15pm
Location: Les Muses Terrace, Level 3
Objective: To investigate the relationship of tremor severity, disease related quality of life (QoL) and impairment of activities of daily living (ADL) in patients with essential tremor (ET) treated medically or with deep brain stimulation (DBS).
Background: ET as the most common adult movement disorder often interferes with basic activities of daily living and may thus significantly reduce quality of life. Both in medically and surgically treated patients, assessments of QoL and ADL are helpful to monitor treatment. It is unclear, however, if postoperative improvement of QoL in DBS patients is mainly associated with measurements of mere tremor severity or ADL.
Method: One group of medically treated ET patients (n=45, 18 women, age 64 +/- 13 years, cross-sectional analysis) and one group of surgically treated ET patients (n=12, 4 women, age 59 +/- years, prospective analysis before and 12 months after DBS) were evaluated using the Fahn-Tolosa-Marin Tremor Rating Scale (TRS), the Quality of Life in Essential Tremor Questionnaire (QUEST), and the Bain and Findley Tremor ADL Scale (BFT-ADL, unvalidated German version).
Results: In the medical group, a moderate correlation was found between the QUEST and the BFT-ADL (r=0.5, p<0.001), whereas correlation between the QUEST and the TRS was low (r=0.4, p<0.01) and not significant after excluding the TRS part C assessing functional disability (r=0.2, p>0.05). In the surgical group, all scores improved markedly and significantly after DBS. There was a high correlation of the postoperative improvements of the QUEST and the BFT-ADL (r=0.7, p<0.01), while the correlation of improvements of the QUEST and the TRS did not reach statistical significance.
Conclusion: Impaired ADL in ET are associated with reduced QoL and should thus be considered as an important parameter regardless of medical or surgical management. Evaluation of surgical candidates should include assessment of ADL as they might be a predictor of postoperative QoL improvement. Validated translations of the Bain and Findley Tremor ADL Score are needed.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
P. Reker, S. Schnitzler, T. Thies, A. Josten, J. Becker, J. Steffen, J. Wirths, H. Dafsari, V. Visser-Vandewalle, M. Barbe. ADL impairment and quality of life in patients with essential tremor [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2019; 34 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/adl-impairment-and-quality-of-life-in-patients-with-essential-tremor/. Accessed June 14, 2025.« Back to 2019 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/adl-impairment-and-quality-of-life-in-patients-with-essential-tremor/