Change in Non-motor Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease and Essential Tremor Patients: A One-year Follow-up Study.

Background: Non-motor symptoms (NMS) in Parkinson's disease (PD) differ from those in essential tremor (ET), even before a definitive diagnosis is made. It is not clear whether patient's knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment influence their subsequent reporting of NMS.

Methods: 1 year after a clinical and instrumental diagnosis, we compared the motor impairment (Movement Disorders Society (MDS)-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-III) and non-motor symptoms (NMSQuest) in PD (n = 31) and ET (n = 21) patients.

Do non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease differ from essential tremor before initial diagnosis? A clinical and scintigraphic study.

Background: Non-motor symptoms (NMS) in Parkinson's disease (PD) are common, increase the patients' disability and have a significantly negative impact on their quality of life. Essential tremor (ET) is also affected by non-motor symptoms and often enters into the differential diagnosis with PD. Brain scintigraphy with [(123)I]β-CIT SPECT is a technique used to facilitate differential diagnosis between PD and ET.