Abstract
Essential tremor, with its senile and familial varieties, is a common and geographically ubiquitous disorder of unknown aetiology. The prevalence and spectrum of disability of this disorder are difficult to gauge, but from information from communities in the United States, Scandinavia and New Guinea the prevalence is variably quoted as being from 0.4 to 5.6% of the population. This 10-fold difference in prevalence can be attributed to differences in the genetic structure of the communities studied and variations in the epidemiological techniques employed (see Rautakorpi et al., this volume, chapter 14). Sevitt (1974) has estimated that there are 80 000 consultations annually for essential tremor in the United Kingdom and 1.4 million consultations annually for senile tremor. The sex incidence is quoted as being equal by Critchley (1949); however, some studies have shown an increased incidence in females (Sevitt, 1974) and others have shown an increase in males (Critchley, 1972).
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© 1984 L. J. Findley
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Findley, L.J. (1984). Essential tremor: introductory remarks. In: Findley, L.J., Capildeo, R. (eds) Movement Disorders: Tremor. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06757-2_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06757-2_13
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