Diurnal variation of essential and physiological tremor.

ABSTRACT

Evaluations were made of the diurnal variations of tremor power at rest, after fatigue and after mass loading, and plasma norepinephrine in patients with familial essential tremor and normal subjects. Diurnal tremor power rhythms for both essential and physiological tremor pursued identical temporal profiles. Plasma norepinephrine levels followed a congruent diurnal pattern with later peak values than the peak values of tremor power. Sympathetic nervous system activity is unlikely to be the cause of diurnal tremor power variation. The consistent diurnal rhythm of tremor power may affect dosage schemes of tremorolytic drugs.