TY - JOUR
T1 - Tremor in school-aged children
T2 - A cross-sectional study of tremor in 819 boys and girls in Burgos, Spain
AU - Louis, Elan D.
AU - Cubo, Esther
AU - Trejo-Gabriel-Galán, José M.
AU - Villaverde, Vanesa Ausín
AU - Benito, Vanesa Delgado
AU - Velasco, Sara Sáez
AU - Vicente, Jesús Mac Arrón
AU - Guevara, José Cordero
AU - Benito-León, Julián
PY - 2011/10
Y1 - 2011/10
N2 - Background: Mild hand tremor occurs in most normal adults. There are no surveys of the prevalence or clinical correlates of such tremor among children. Methods: A cross-sectional study of tics, tremor and other neurological disorders was conducted in Spanish children; thus, 819 schoolchildren in Burgos, Spain, drew Archimedes spirals with each hand. Tremor in spirals was rated (0-2) by a blinded neurologist and an overall tremor rating (0-4) was assigned. Results: The mean age was 10.9 ± 3.1 years. A tremor rating of 1 (mild tremor) was present in either hand in 424 (51.7%) children, and in both hands in 88 (10.7%) children. Higher tremor ratings were very uncommon. The overall tremor rating was higher in boys than girls (1.31 ± 0.41 vs. 1.22 ± 0.34, p = 0.002) and correlated weakly yet significantly with age (ρ = 0.09, p = 0.01). Within subjects, the left hand spiral rating was greater than the right (p < 0.001). Conclusions: In this cross-sectional study of 819 Spanish schoolchildren, mild tremor was commonly observed. As in adults, males had more tremor than females, tremor scores increased with age, and tremor scores were higher in the left than right arm, demonstrating that these clinical correlations seem to be more broadly generalizable to children. The functional significance of tremor in children, particularly as it relates to handwriting proficiency, deserves additional scrutiny.
AB - Background: Mild hand tremor occurs in most normal adults. There are no surveys of the prevalence or clinical correlates of such tremor among children. Methods: A cross-sectional study of tics, tremor and other neurological disorders was conducted in Spanish children; thus, 819 schoolchildren in Burgos, Spain, drew Archimedes spirals with each hand. Tremor in spirals was rated (0-2) by a blinded neurologist and an overall tremor rating (0-4) was assigned. Results: The mean age was 10.9 ± 3.1 years. A tremor rating of 1 (mild tremor) was present in either hand in 424 (51.7%) children, and in both hands in 88 (10.7%) children. Higher tremor ratings were very uncommon. The overall tremor rating was higher in boys than girls (1.31 ± 0.41 vs. 1.22 ± 0.34, p = 0.002) and correlated weakly yet significantly with age (ρ = 0.09, p = 0.01). Within subjects, the left hand spiral rating was greater than the right (p < 0.001). Conclusions: In this cross-sectional study of 819 Spanish schoolchildren, mild tremor was commonly observed. As in adults, males had more tremor than females, tremor scores increased with age, and tremor scores were higher in the left than right arm, demonstrating that these clinical correlations seem to be more broadly generalizable to children. The functional significance of tremor in children, particularly as it relates to handwriting proficiency, deserves additional scrutiny.
KW - Essential tremor
KW - Hand tremor
KW - Schoolchildren, cross-sectional study
KW - Tremor, children
KW - Tremor, gender and age
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U2 - 10.1159/000330352
DO - 10.1159/000330352
M3 - Article
C2 - 21894047
AN - SCOPUS:80052325413
SN - 0251-5350
VL - 37
SP - 90
EP - 95
JO - Neuroepidemiology
JF - Neuroepidemiology
IS - 2
ER -