A Population-Based Survey to Determine the Prevalence of Movement Disorders in Orhangazi District of Bursa, Turkey

OBJECTIVE: : In this study we aimed to determine the prevalence of movement disorders among 40 years and older population in Orhangazi district of Bursa, Turkey. METHODS: This population-based study was planned in three phases. In phase I, door-to-door home interviews were performed on 1256 subjects by residents of departments of neurology and family medicine by using a short questionnaire and 404 subjects with suspected symptoms of movement disorders and Parkinsonism were detected. These subjects were examined and videotaped in phase II. Of the suspected subjects in phase I, 131 did not attend to phase II for various reasons. In phase II, subjects were evaluated by movement disorders specialists by using scales specific to tremor, restless leg syndrome, Parkinson disease, and hemi-facial spasm. In phase III, video recording of all identified patients were reviewed and final diagnoses were made with a consensus of all three specialists. RESULTS: In this phase, subjects were diagnosed to have restless leg syndrome n= 60, 9.71%, essential tremor n= 21, 3.34%, enhanced physhological tremor n= 26, 4.14%, Parkinson’s disease n= 14, 2.23%, hemifacial spasm n= 4, 0.82%, and dystonia n= 2, 0.41%. CONCLUSION: Although essential tremor has been reported as the most common movement disorder, in our study restless leg syndrome had higher prevalence than essential tremo