Alcohol’s Benefits in Patients With Essential Tremor

Several
studies have indicated that alcohol can suppress essential
tremor (ET). To examine whether it may also improve gait,
researchers assessed the walking patterns of 16 patients
with ET and 11 age-matched controls without ET before
and 30-minutes after each subject consumed a small dose
of alcohol. Measurements included the number of missteps
(taking steps outside specified boundaries marked on a
treadmill), ataxia score (a ratio measuring the regularity
of walking strides), and tremor score (a rating of tremor
severity in patients with ET). Subjects did not have a
history of alcohol abuse, and patients with ET were not
being treated with medication.

• After consuming alcohol,
  patients with ET had significantly improved tremor scores
  and ataxia scores. Their number of missteps also significantly
  decreased (from 8.8 to 5.6).
• Controls had a slight
  worsening of ataxia scores and an increased number of
  missteps (from 0.4 to 0.7), though both of these results
  were nonsignificant.

Comments:

This
study confirms previous findings indicating that alcohol
use can improve tremor in patients with ET. Further, it
showed that drinking may also improve gait in these patients.
While the results of this study apply only to patients
with essential tremor, they raise the possibility that
alcohol might benefit those with other movement disorders.

R. Curtis Ellison, MD

Reference:

Klebe S, Stolze H, Grensing K, et al. Influence
of alcohol on gait in patients with essential tremor.
Neurology. 2005;65:96-101.