Essential Tremor is not Only a Movement Disorder; Its Relationship with Sleep and Anxiety

Introduction: Essential tremor (ET) is the most common movement disorder, and some studies suggest that there are non-motor symptoms as well as motor symptoms. This study aims to investigate the relationship between ET and anxiety and sleep disorder. Methods: The study was conducted with 38 healthy individuals in the control group and 40 patients who admitted to the neurology clinic of our hospital and had definite ET according to the Consensus statement of the Movement Disorder Society on Tremor. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) were applied to both groups. Statistical analysis was carried out with SPSS 22.0 for Windows. Results: The patient and control groups were similar in terms of age, gender and educational status. The PSQI and HAM-A scores in the patient group were significantly higher than the control group (p< 0.000, p< 0.000, respectively). Both scores were higher in female patients compared to male patients (p< 0.05, p< 0.05, respectively), and in married patients compared to single patients (p< 0.05, p< 0.05, respectively). Conclusion: Sleep disorder and anxiety are more common in patients with ET than in healthy individuals. We believe that more severe sleep disorders and anxiety in female and/or married patients are indicative of the psychosocial component of the disorder, and that this condition should not be overlooked and should be studied more comprehensively in this regard.