Electrochemical skin conductance for quantitative assessment of sweat function: Normative values in children

The Sudoscan™ system (Impeto Medical, Paris, France) has been recently proposed as a standardized, easy, painless tool for sudomotor function assessment. It is now used as an additional diagnostic tool in small fibre neuropathy. So far, no work has been published in children. The aim of this study was to measure electrochemical skin conductance (ESC) using the Sudoscan™ system in children in order to assess its feasibility and to provide normative values.

100 children were included in the study: 55 girls and 45 boys, age rank 2-17, mean 10.5 y. They were accompanying their brother or sister who came as outclinic patients in the Department of Paediatrics or the Department of Paediatric surgery of the University Hospital.

All subjects underwent the test. It was performed without any difficulty, except for some of the youngest who sometimes had some trouble in keeping calm for 3 min over the plates. 4 subjects who took the test were excluded from the analysis (2 diabetic patients and 2 having had previous chemotherapy). ESC was quite stable along childhood with an overall 80.1 μS value for hands and 81.9 μS for feet, very similar to what is observed in adults.

Maturation process seems to occur early in life, in accordance to sudomotor control when assessed by sympathetic skin response, which is also recorded early in infancy.

ESC measurement is a simple and easy-to-perform test that can be performed in the clinical setting in children in 5 min.