FASCICULATION POTENTIALS IN HEALTHY PEOPLE

The aim of this study was to investigate the fasciculation potentials (FPs) in the small-peripheral muscles of the foot and hand and the pos sible associated factors, in a healthy population. One hundred-twenty- two normal individuals (65 men and 57 women), aged 17-67 years (mean 3 9.96, SD=12.76) participated in the study. A special questionnaire con sisting of 47 questions was devised as the basic instrument of the int erview, which included the Hamilton anxiety rating scale. The extensor digitorum brevis (EDB), the flexor hallucis brevis (FHB) and the firs t dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscles were studied bilaterally using sur face electrodes. In 94 (58 men and 36 women) from 122 participants (65 men and 57 women) FPs were recorded (men 89.2%, women 63.1%, all 77%) . The mean FPs per minute and muscle, in all three muscles, was 8.0 (S D=4.6). More FPs were recorded in the muscles of foot than in FDI (p<0 .01) and in FHB than in EDB (p<0.001). FPs were correlated to gender, body height and weight and to the score of the Hamilton scale (r(2)>0. 1, p<0.01). The syndrome of benign FPs was observed in 2 men (1.6% of men). These results suggest that FPs are a very common phenomenon in t he peripheral muscles of healthy persons. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.