General Anesthesia and Head Trauma as Risk Factors in Parkinson’s Disease and Essential Tremor

Introduction: Head trauma and general anesthesia are discussed and considered as risk factors for Parkinson’s disease (PD). Their role in the etiopathogenesis of essential tremor (ET), the most common movement disorder, is not extensively studied. Aim: To assess the prevalence of previous surgery with general anesthesia and of previous head trauma in a clinical setting of ET versus PD patients. Material and Methods: We analyzed the medical records of 532 ET patients (179 males), aged 69± 8.9 years (32-91), with disease duration of 5.9± 6.6 years (1- 50) and 323 PD patients (173 males), aged 68.4± 9.1 years (40-86), with disease duration of 5.1± 4.2 years (1-23), hospitalized for a 7-year period at First clinic of Neurology, Sveta Marina University Hospital, Varna, Bulgaria. Results: Seventeen (5.3%) PD and 31 (5.8%) ET patients suffered head trauma with concussion or more severe brain damage prior to their initial movement disorder symptoms. Sixty-eight (21.1%) PD and 126 (23.7%) ET patients had undergone 1 or more surgical interventions with general anesthesia prior to their first symptoms. Differences do not reach statistical significance. Conclusion: Some authors support the hypothesis for association of head injury and general anesthesia with increased risk of developing PD. Our results of similar occurence of head trauma and slightly larger proportion of general anesthesia in the ET group support further research of their potential causal or triggering role in the ethiopathogenesis of ET.