Louis et al. [1] estimated the prevalence of essential tremor (ET) in a population-based study in Araihazar, Bangladesh, a developing country. As part of an in-person evaluation in a health outcomes study, each study participant produced 2 handwriting samples, from which ET diagnoses were assigned by 2 independent movement disorder neurologists. The crude prevalence of ET (age >18 years) was 19/1,229 [1.5%, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.0-2.4], and was similar in men and women. The crude prevalence was 2.5% in participants aged >=40 years and one half that (1.3%) among younger participants (<40 years).The results of this study are of special interest. Aside from the fact that no other prevalence studies of ET have been conducted in Bangladesh, the investigators did not rely on indirect assessment tools (screening questionnaires). Instead, they collected handwriting (direct) data of all study participants.
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