[The significance of sex-linked differences for the assessment of somatosensory evoked potentials (author's transl)].

In 45 healthy volunteers (22 males and 23 females with the same age structure) the peak latencies and inter-peak differences of the cervical and early cortical components of the somatosensory evoked potential were measured. The distribution of the values of the variables and their relationship with arm length were investigated both for the sample as a whole and for each sex separately. Significantly higher average values of the latencies and arm lengths were found in men. The correlations between arm length and latency had consistently higher values for the female sample. On the basis of these results it is concluded that a sufficient assessment of the latencies is only possible with the help of sex-specific normal values.