Similar association between objective and subjective symptoms in functional and organic tremor

Gerrit Kramer, Zeus T. Dominguez-Vega, Heleen S. A. Laarhoven, Rick Brandsma, Marenka Smit, A. M. Madelein van der Stouwe, Jan Willem J. Elting, Natasha M. Maurits, Judith G. M. Rosmalen, Marina A. J. Tijssen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)
107 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background: A previous study reported a dramatic mismatch in objectively detected and self-reported tremor duration in patients with functional tremor. As these findings have an important and widespread impact in both clinical care and research, we conducted a validation study with a longer study duration and a larger sample of patients.

Methods: Fourteen patients with functional tremor and 19 with organic tremor completed a 30 day study period. Objective tremor duration was recorded using a wrist-worn accelerometer. Simultaneously, participants completed a web-based diary five times a day, each time rating their symptom burden since the previous diary entry.

Results: Patients with functional tremor had shorter objective tremor duration compared to patients with organic tremor (21.6% vs 30.7%, P = 0.034). A post-hoc analysis revealed the difference in objective duration was mainly due to patients with essential tremor (37.2%). Subjective symptom burden was not significantly different between functional and organic tremors (38.7 vs 28.7 on a 0-100 VAS scale, P = 0.138). Finally, a mixed model analysis did not reveal significant differences in the association between subjective and objective tremor symptoms (P = 0.168).

Conclusions: patients with functional tremor do have an objectively detectable, persistent tremor during daily life activities. Furthermore, they have a similar symptom burden and a similar association between subjective and objective tremor symptoms as patients with organic tremor.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2-7
Number of pages6
JournalParkinsonism & Related Disorders
Volume64
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul-2019

Keywords

  • Functional movement disorder
  • Tremor
  • Actigraphy
  • Self-report
  • Ambulatory assessment
  • PSYCHOGENIC MOVEMENT-DISORDERS
  • RATING-SCALE
  • PARKINSONS
  • TIME

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Similar association between objective and subjective symptoms in functional and organic tremor'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this