Assessment of Essential Tremors on Clinical and Functional Performance Tests

Research Article

Munish Kumar, Durgesh Kumar an

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate Essential tremors on clinical and functional performance test. Methods: A total of 60 patients, having Essential tremor were prospectively analyzed. A detailed neurological examination along with 9-Hole Peg test and Box and Block test was performed. Effect of tremor on daily living activities (ADL) was scored using specific questionnaires on the ADL-T24 scale. Results: Sixty patients with essential tremor had the mean ± SD age of 48.32 ± 19.04 years. The mean (± SD) number of seconds taken during 9-Hole Peg test was 17.26 (± 4.32) seconds. The mean (± SD) number of blocks transferred within one minute with box and block test was 46.21 (± 8.64). There was a positive correlation between ADL-T24 score and 9-Hole Peg score (R2=0.56) but a negative correlation between ADL-T24 and box and block score (R2=-0.68). Conclusion: The severity of tremor can be measured with the help of quality-of-life questionnaires as well as with functional performance tests, for example, the 9-Hole Peg test, box and block test. The functional performance tests correlate well with the tremor severity.

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