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Reduced variance of latencies in pudendal evoked potentials after normalization for body height

The value of the Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (SEP) in the assessment and detection of neurological disorders could be considerably enhanced if the normative standards of (SEP) characteristic parameters were normalized taking into account all other systematic sources of variance. The present study examines the influence of body height on the peak and interpeak latencies of the pudendal somatosensory evoked potentials. We examined the peak latency (L1) of the evoked potential recorded at the L1 vertebra and the onset latency (ONc) of the cortical evoked potentials, after stimulation of the pudendal nerve, as a function of body height in 40 normal male subjects (age 20–40 years). Significant positive correlation was found between both (ONc) latency and ONc‐L1 interpeak latency and body height (H). Assuming that the latter is proportional to the length of the neural pathways, the experimental data were fitted using a theoretical model representing the conduction in the sensory neuraxis as a function of body height. Using the estimated fitting functions, we normalized our data with regard to a typical value of body height. The normalized values of the aforementioned latencies reveal a significantly reduced variance, as compared to the original ones, and consequently their diagnostic importance is significantly increased. Similar procedures applied to the L1 (spinal) latencies and the latencies of the bulbocavernosus reflex (BCR) reveal no correlation with body height and this is discussed on the basis of neuroanatomical considerations. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.