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SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE · MED

The Characteristics of Tremor Motion Help Identify Parkinson's Disease and Multiple System Atrophy.

Front Neurol · 2020-07-10

DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2020.00540PMID: 32754107

Open accessresearch-article; Journal ArticleOriginal source ↗

Research overview

The text below is the source article’s original abstract under a verified reuse license. cc by

Background/Objectives: Distinguishing between Parkinson's disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA) is challenging in the clinic because patients with these two conditions present with similar symptoms in motor dysfunction. Here, we aimed to determine whether tremor characteristics can serve as novel markers for distinguishing the two conditions. Methods: Ninety-one subjects with clinically diagnosed PD and 93 subjects with MSA were included. Tremor of the limbs was measured in different conditions (such as resting, postural, and weight-holding) using electromyography (EMG) surface electrodes and accelerometers. The dominant frequency, tremor occurrence rate, and harmonic occurrence rate (HOR) of the tremor were then calculated. Results: Our results demonstrated that the tremor dominant frequency in the upper limbs of the MSA group was significantly higher than that in the PD group across all resting (F = 5.717, p = 0.023), postural (F = 13.409, p F = 9.491, p 2 = 68.487, p 2 = 46.619, p Conclusion: Our study confirmed that several tremor characteristics, including the dominant tremor frequency and the occurrence rate in different conditions, help detect PD and MSA. The presence of harmonics may serve as a novel marker to help distinguish PD from MSA with high sensitivity and specificity.

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