Awang, Mohamed Saufi
(2010)
Nerve conduction study of the upper limb and lower limb ii 250 subjects. a comparison
between age, sex, height, and weight.
Other.
Pusat Pengajian Sains Perubatan, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
(Submitted)
Abstract
Introduction: Nerve conduction study (NCS) is an important tool as part of
investigating some neurological disorders. NCS can measure both motor and sensory
velocities. There are specific personal factors that can influence the nerve velocity which
include age ,sex , height and weight.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the conduction velocities of nerves
both in the upper limb and lower limb. The other aim of this study was to observe the
influence of specific personal factors like age, sex, height and weight on nerve
conduction velocities (NCVs).
Material and Method: Two hundred fifty healthy subjects were recruited in this study.
They were mainly hospital staffs. The subjects were excluded if they have any
neuromuscular disorders or any diseases that can have direct or indirect effect on nerve
function such as diabetes or carpal tunnel syndrome. The subjects were divided into
different age, height and weight (expressed as body mass index or BMI) groups. The
nerves that were tested include: median and ulnar nerves for the upper limb (both motor
and sensory velocities) and common peroneal (motor velocity) and sural nerves (sensory
velocity) for the lower limb. Surface electrodes were used. The temperature in the
laboratory was kept constant above 27 ° C. The targeted nerve was suprarnaximally
stimulated using square wave with a duration of 0.2ms and the action potential was
picked up by the recording electrodes. The length of each nerve was estimated with a
flexible measuring tape. Nerve velocities (rnls) were calculated and documented.
Results: Of 250 subjects, 137 were male and 113 were female. The mean age, height
and BMI were 34.46 ± 10.79 years, 159.47 ± 8.53 (em) and 23.99 ± 4.20 (kglm2
).
Reduction in NCVs in median, ulnar, common peroneal and sural nerves across different
age. Slowing ofNCV was seen only in common peronei nerve across different height
groups. There were reduction in NCVs of median, ulnar (motor component), common
peroneal and sural nerves as BMI increased.
Conclusion: In conclusion, our results showed that age has great influence on nerve
velocities. We observed reduction in NCVs as the age increased in median and ulnar
nerves (upper limb) and common peroneal plus sural nerves (lower limb) .
However, mixed trend ofNCVs were seen across different height and body mass index
groups
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