On the incidence of the biceps brachii third head in Brazilian white and blacks.

The incidence of a third head of the biceps brachii muscle has been reported in several articles, and there is a general idea that it is a race-dependent variation. The aim of this investigation was to study the biceps brachii muscle with regard to the incidence of its third head in a mixed white and black Brazilian population. A total of 200 upper arms from adult white and black cadavers (100 whites and 100 blacks) fixed in a 10% formol solution were examined and compared. It was observed that for white subjects the incidence of the third head was 20% against 9% for the black subjects: a statistically significant difference. We suggest that other factors, in addition to racial ones, might play a part in determining the incidence of the biceps brachii third head in a population.