Occurrence of resting tremor in Parkinson's disease

Rajput, A. H. FRCPC
Rozdilsky, B. FRCPC
Ang, L. FRCPC

Departments of Medicine, Division of Neurology (Dr. Rajput) and Pathology (Drs. Rozdilsky and Ang), University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. A.H. Rajput, Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, Royal University Hospital, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7N 0X0.

Supported by a grant from the Saskatchewan Parkinson's Disease Foundation.

Received November 16, 1990. Accepted for publication in final form January 7, 1991.

Neurology 41(8):p 1298-1299, August 1991.

Article abstract

Several previous studies have noted that resting tremor (RT) is absent in 10% to 30% of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) patients. We report our 22-year observations in 47 pathologically verified parkinsonian patients. In all the IPD cases with median follow-up of 3.7 years, RT was noted on at least one evaluation. Among other parkinsonian syndrome variants characterized by widespread subcortical pathology with median follow-up of 2.86 years, RT was seen in 31% of the cases. Our data indicate that the sites typically involved in IPD are sufficient to produce RT.