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94005 
Journal Article 
Review 
Etiology of essential tremor: should we be searching for environmental causes? 
Louis, ED 
2001 
1 
Movement Disorders
ISSN: 0885-3185
EISSN: 1531-8257 
16 
5 
822-829 
English 
11746611 
WOS:000171667000004 
Essential tremor (ET) is an extremely common and widespread disorder.[1] Its prevalence among individuals >=65 years of age[2] is similar to that of osteoarthritis,[3] diabetes mellitus,[4] and Alzheimer's disease.[5] Also, it is a longstanding condition; humans have provided written commentary about their tremors for several thousand years.[6-9] Despite this, knowledge about the biology of this disorder remains limited. For example, the location of the primary pathology in ET is not known. It is not clear whether the problem originates in a central pacemaker in the brainstem and then secondarily involves the cerebellum, or whether the cerebellum or other central structure is the site of the primary pathology.[10] One problem is that a specific degenerative neuronal population has not been identified. In terms of etiology, while most investigators would agree that a genetic predisposition contributes to the etiology in a sizeable proportion of ET cases,[11,12] whether this represents 10%, 50%, or 90% of cases is not known.[13]