Assessing the vibration perception threshold in a community sample of adult Ghanaians

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 18; no. 11; p. e0291606
• Main Authors: Djankpa, Francis Tanam, Amoah, Albert G. B., Adzaku, Festus Komla, Aidoo, Eric, Boateng, Isaac
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 08.11.2023; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adults; Age; Amputation; Analysis; Blood pressure; Body mass index; Body size; Clinical medicine; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetic neuropathy; Diabetics; Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; Evaluation; Fingers; Homeostasis; Limbs; Medical colleges; Medical screening; Nervous system; Occupational health; Older people; Perception; Perceptions; Peripheral neuropathy; Questionnaires; Ulna; Variability; Variance analysis; Vibration; Vibration perception; Ghana; United Kingdom > UK
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291606

The vibration perception threshold (VPT) helps evaluate human somatosensory function and diagnose peripheral neuropathy. To optimize its use as a primary neurologic tool, it is imperative to establish its typical values in healthy subjects and assess the factors affecting its variability in an individual to ensure consistency in its application. Demographic data and a brief medical history were collected from 391 non-diabetic adults aged 30-80 at Kpone-on-Sea in Ghana. The VPT was measured at the tip of the big toe, the medial malleolus, the tip of the middle finger, and the head of the ulna of each participant using a Horwell Neurothesiometer. The variability of VPT was assessed vis-à-vis the following factors: gender, age, fasting plasma sugar and body mass index. The mean age of participants was 48.4 ± 0.7 years, and the female-to-male ratio was 1.46. The overall VPT values ranged from 5.74 ± 0.14 volts to 8.55 ± 0.18 volts in the lower limbs and 3.61 ± 0.06 volts to 5.00 ± 0.08 volts in the upper limbs. Age was found to be the only factor that could predict VPT for both the lower and upper limbs (P < 0.001). One-Way Analysis of Variance with Tukey's posthoc showed that the VPT in the feet was significantly higher than that in the hands. Generally, the VPT was high on proximal sites and low on distal sites indicating that the vibration sensation increased from proximal to distal direction. Therefore, distal areas should be used for VPT testing with a Neurothesiomer. Age was found to be the only factor that affected VPT variability. Hence, the practical application of VPT will require age-specific reference ranges to cater for older adults.