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Table 5 Grooved pegboard and kinematic motor outcomes, overall and by community, Gauteng province, South Africa, 2016–2020

From: Severity of parkinsonism associated with environmental manganese exposure

 

All participants

N = 716

Mn smelter community (Meyerton)

N = 621

Reference community

(Ethembalethu)

N = 95

 

Mean (SD)

Mean (SD)

Mean (SD)

Grooved pegboard test, time (seconds)a

 Dominant hand

108.0 (43.1)

107.0 (43.0)b

114.6 (43.4)c

 Minimum

43.2

43.2

59.2

 25th percentile

80.2

79.9

82.0

 Median

93.8

93.5

114.0

 75th percentile

124.8

120.1

141.2

 Maximum

300.0

300.0

300.0

 Non-dominant hand

118.0 (47.1)

117.5 (47.4)b

121.4 (44.8)c

 Minimum

51.4

51.4

60.0

 25th percentile

86.9

87.1

85.1

 Median

103.8

103.2

114.7

 75th percentile

131.7

130.3

150.3

 Maximum

300.0

300.0

241.1

Kinematic test – finger-tapping mean velocity (degrees/second)a

 Dominant hand

312.4 (113.2)

298.2 (106.0)b

366.6 (123.5)c

 Minimum

59.0

59.0

121.9

 25th percentile

222.7

217.3

275.9

 Median

302.7

289.7

355.8

 75th percentile

384.6

362.2

445.5

 Maximum

679.0

590.5

679.0

 Non-dominant hand

353.3 (119.2)

338.2 (111.7)b

411.0 (129.5)c

 Minimum

87.8

87.8

168.5

 25th percentile

271.2

262.6

316.3

 Median

342.7

326.8

412.9

 75th percentile

426.3

399.4

509.4

 Maximum

764.4

727.0

764.4

  1. Abbreviations: Mn manganese
  2. a Poorer motor performance is indicated by greater grooved pegboard times and lower finger-tapping velocities
  3. b Excludes 16 participants (grooved pegboard in dominant hand and non-dominant hand) and 275 participants (kinematic test in dominant and non-dominant hand) with missing data
  4. c Excludes two participants (grooved pegboard in dominant and non-dominant hand) and four participants (kinematic test in dominant and non-dominant hand) with missing data