Giovagnoli Anna Rita, Parisi Alessandra
Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Via Celoria 11, 20133 Milano, Italy.
Brain Sci. 2024 Apr 24;14(5):418. doi: 10.3390/brainsci14050418.
Handedness, a complex human aspect that reflects the functional lateralization of the hemispheres, also interacts with the immune system. This study aimed to expand the knowledge of the lateralization of hand, foot, and eye activities in patients with immune-mediated (IM) or other (noIM) neurological diseases and to clarify the properties of the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI) in an Italian population. Three hundred thirty-four patients with IM or noIM diseases affecting the brain or spine and peripheral nervous system were interviewed about stressful events preceding the disease, subjective handedness, and familiarity for left-handedness or ambidexterity. The patients and 40 healthy subjects underwent EHI examination. In the whole group of participants, 24 items of the EHI were classified into five factors (Hand Transitive, Hand Refined, Hand Median, Foot, Eye), demonstrating good reliability and validity. Chronological age had a significant influence on hand and foot EHI factors and the laterality quotient (LQ), particularly on writing and painting. In the patient groups, EHI factors and the LQ were also predicted by age of disease onset, duration of disease, and family history of left-handedness or ambidexterity. No differences were found between patients and healthy subjects, but pencil use scored significantly lower in patients with IM diseases than in those with noIM brain diseases. These results demonstrate that the lateralization of hand and foot activities is not a fixed human aspect, but that it can change throughout life, especially for abstract and symbolic activities. Chronic neurological diseases can cause changes in handedness. This may explain why, unlike systemic immunological diseases, IM neurological diseases are not closely associated with left-handedness. In these patients, the long version of the EHI is appropriate for determining the lateralization of body activities to contextualize the neurological picture; therefore, these findings extend the Italian normative data sets.
利手是反映大脑半球功能偏侧化的一个复杂的人类特征，它也与免疫系统相互作用。本研究旨在扩展对免疫介导（IM）或其他（非IM）神经系统疾病患者手、足和眼活动偏侧化的认识，并阐明爱丁堡利手量表（EHI）在意大利人群中的特性。对334例患有影响大脑、脊柱和周围神经系统的IM或非IM疾病的患者进行了访谈，询问了疾病前的应激事件、主观利手情况以及对左利手或双利手的熟悉程度。患者和40名健康受试者接受了EHI检查。在整个参与者群体中，EHI的24个项目被分为五个因素（手部传递、手部精细动作、手部中间动作、足部、眼部），显示出良好的信度和效度。实际年龄对手部和足部EHI因素以及利手商数（LQ）有显著影响，特别是对书写和绘画方面。在患者组中，EHI因素和LQ还受到疾病发病年龄、病程以及左利手或双利手家族史的预测。患者与健康受试者之间未发现差异，但IM疾病患者使用铅笔的得分显著低于非IM脑部疾病患者。这些结果表明，手和足活动的偏侧化不是一个固定不变的人类特征，而是会在一生中发生变化，尤其是对于抽象和象征性活动。慢性神经系统疾病可导致利手改变。这可能解释了为什么与全身性免疫疾病不同，IM神经系统疾病与左利手没有密切关联。在这些患者中，EHI的长版本适合用于确定身体活动的偏侧化，以便将神经学情况背景化；因此，这些发现扩展了意大利的规范数据集。
