Quality of life in a random sample of community dwelling older patients with essential tremor

Study Objective – Nested case-control study aimed to assess the quality of life of community dwelling participants aged 65 years or over with newly diagnosed Essential Tremor (ET). Methods and Results – Thirty-two participants with newly diagnosed ET and 32 age and gender matched controls were administered the Rand-SF36 quality of life questionnaire. Medical co-morbidities were also assessed in the two groups. Results – Participants with ET had significantly lower scores in the physical function, role limitation because of physical function, role limitation as a result of emotional problem, pain, and energy ⁄ vitality subscales of the Rand-SF36 when compared with controls. Conclusions – Older patients with newly diagnosed ET have poorer quality of life than their community dwelling counterparts without ET.