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Essential Tremor
Epidemiology
Chapter 2 – Literature Review
ET is recognised as a neurological movement disorder and is cited as one
of the most common tremor disorders (Louis, 2005). Though further
research is required, incidence of ET is suggested to be between 0.5%
and 4% in the general population (Troster & Woods, 2010). Occurrence
of ET is estimated to be 20 times greater than PD (Louis, et al., 1998).
A recent survey conducted in Turkey by Sur et al. (2009) of 2227 people
reported an ET prevalence of 3.09% in the adult population (over 18
years of age) spread evenly across both genders. Similarly Rajput et al.
(1984), found no difference between genders with an adjusted
prevalence rate of 2.37% for ET in the population of Minnesota, USA.
Interestingly Tan et al. (2005) found prevalence differences between
three ethnicities living in Singapore. The authors found that incidence in
the sampled Indian community were 4.94%, with 2.77% in the Chinese
community and no evidence of ET in the Malay community sample. The
variation of findings reported in these epidemiology studies may be due
to differing criteria used to diagnose ET (Lorenz & Deuschl, 2007). As it
stands the prevalence of ET in New Zealand is unknown however it has
been suggested to occur in 1-5% of the population (New Zealand
Essential Tremor Support Group, 2010).
Characteristics/Symptoms of ET
Historically ET was known as ‘Benign Essential Tremor’ however due to
the negative impact it can have on different aspects of a person’s life,
‘benign’ has been removed (W. C. Koller, et al., 1994; Troster & Woods,
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