Family history of hand tremor in patients with early Parkinson’s disease

Some patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) report hand tremors in their relatives. This study aimed to compare the clinical characteristics of early PD in patients with and without a family history of hand tremor. This study included 337 early and drug-naive patients with PD. The family history of hand tremor was obtained from the patients and their caregivers. Motor and non-motor symptoms of PD were assessed using the appropriate scales. A family history of hand tremor was present in 27 of 337 patients with PD (8.0%). Patients with a family history of hand tremor had significantly higher scores for rest tremors than those without. No significant differences were found in action tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity, gait, or posture scores between the two groups. The proportion of tremor-dominant subtypes was higher in patients with a family history of hand tremor than in those without (51.8% vs. 28.7%). Patients with PD, with a family history of hand tremor, had significantly lower scores in the urinary and sexual subdomains of the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale for PD than in those without. A family history of hand tremor affects the motor and non-motor symptoms in patients with early PD. It is necessary to investigate the family history of hand tremor in patients with PD.