Sample size for the estimation of F-wave parameters in healthy volunteers and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients

• Published in: Zhong hua yi xue za zhi Vol. 97; no. 9; p. 670
• Main Authors: Fang, J, Cui, L Y, Liu, M S, Guan, Y Z, Ding, Q Y, Du, H, Li, B H, Wu, S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Chinese
• Published: China 07.03.2017
• Subjects: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; Healthy Volunteers; Humans; Knee; Median Nerve; Neural Conduction; Peroneal Nerve; Sample Size; Ulnar Nerve; Amplitude; Persistence; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; F-waves; Latency
• DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0376-2491.2017.09.007
• ISSN: 0376-2491

The study aimed to investigate whether sample sizes of F-wave study differed according to different nerves, different F-wave parameters, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS) patients or healthy subjects. The F-waves in the median, ulnar, tibial, and deep peroneal nerves of 55 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients and 52 healthy subjects were studied to assess the effect of sample size on the accuracy of measurements of the following F-wave parameters: F-wave minimum latency, maximum latency, mean latency, F-wave persistence, F-wave chronodispersion, mean and maximum F-wave amplitude. A hundred stimuli were used in F-wave study. The values obtained from 100 stimuli were considered "true" values and were compared with the corresponding values from smaller samples of 20, 40, 60 and 80 stimuli. F-wave parameters obtained from different sample sizes were compared between the ALS patients and the normal controls. Significant differences were not detected with samples above 60 stimuli for chronodispersion i