G Quartucci | PubMed Health

PubMed1983

[Epidemiological study on tremor in the aged].

203 hospitalized old-aged patients were examined for the presence of tremor. This physical sign was found in 58.6% of cases. By far the largest diagnostic category resulted that of essential tremor: 46.7% of all patients investigated and 77.8% of all cases of tremor. The frequency of this type of tremor was found to increase proportionally to age. The conclusion is drawn that also tremor, as well as other neurological signs frequently demonstrable in "normal" old people (for example, the so-called primitive reflexes), should be inscribed in the group of the phenomena due to the ageing process itself.

Aged↗

PubMed1981

[Comparative study of the frequency of 6 primitive reflexes in a hospitalized population of aged patients].

110 elderly patients, 57 with and 53 without acquired neurological lesions, were examined for the presence of the grasping, snout, sucking, palmomental, glabellar and bulldog reflexes. The results were statistically analyzed by means of the chi2 method. The percentages of the positive reflex responses, although not negligible in the neurologically healthy patients, turned out far higher in the patients with organic cerebral disorders. With the exception of the sucking and palmomental reflexes, these differences appeared statistically significant. As for the neurological diagnosis, diffuse lesions proved themselves more crucial than focal ones. The conclusion is drawn that primitive reflexes should be regarded abnormal only in the context of an overt cerebral pathology.

Aged↗