Quantitative measurements of vibration threshold in healthy adults and acrylamide workers |
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Authors: | Hai Deng Fengsheng He Shoulin Zhang Carl J. Calleman Lucio G. Costa |
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Affiliation: | (1) Institute of Occupational Medicine, Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, 100050 Beijing, People's Republic of China;(2) Department of Environmental Health, University of Washington, 98195 Seattle, WA, USA |
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Abstract: | Summary The early detection of impaired of vibration sensation is necessary in order to monitor the adverse effects in workers occupationally exposed to neurotoxic chemicals such as acrylamide. The conventional neurological examination which assesses vibration sensation by utilizing a tuning fork is relatively insensitive for this purpose. In the present study, the Vibratron II, a new device for the quantitative measurement of vibration thresholds, was used in 105 healthy Chinese adults. A new testing procedure combining the two-alternative forced-choice procedure and the yes-or-no method-of limits procedure showed good reliability and was less time consuming. The results indicate that significant differences in the vibration threshold of index fingers and great toes were found neither between males and females, nor between the left and the right side. However, there was an age-dependent increase in vibration threshold in nonexposed healthy subjects. The vibration thresholds of 41 workers exposed to acrylamide detected by the Vibratron II were significantly higher than those of the healthy adults in the same age group. The quantitative measurement of vibration threshold seems to be potentially useful for screening peripheral nerve dysfunction in field studies. |
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Keywords: | Vibration threshold Vibratron II Peripheral neuropathy Acrylamide exposure |
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