Neurophysiological methods in occupational and environmental health: methodology and recent findings

Neurophysiological measurement, a promising technique for assessment of the subclinical effects of occupational and environmental factors, is rapidly progressing following development of computer technology. The methods include measurement of evoked and event-related potentials, nerve conduction velocity, distribution of nerve conduction velocities, electrocardiographic R-R interval variability, and computerized static posturography. This paper provides an overview of these methods, except for evoked and event-related potentials, which have been reviewed previously by the authors, to evaluate the effects of occupational and environmental factors on the peripheral, autonomic, and cerebellar nervous systems. The available data indicate that these methods are sensitive, reliable, and easily applied in a field study. When conducting these measurements, controlling for confounding factors such as age, sex, height, skin temperature, alcohol ingestion, and neurologic diseases is necessary.