January 3, 1984

France announced today that it would remove about 25 percent of its troops serving with the four-nation force here. The announcement, made simultaneously here and in Paris, added to the nervousness of Lebanese in the capital about the future of the Western presence that is supposed to guarantee their security. An official statement said that at the end of the month, 482 troops from the 1,750-strong French contingent would be withdrawn from Beirut and returned to French positions with the United Nations force in southern Lebanon. No Full Pullout, France Says The reduction, a French spokesman in Beirut said, will not affect the overall number of French soldiers in Lebanon, but the force in Beirut will be cut back by a quarter. The spokesman denied that the move was the precursor of a complete French pullout from the multinational force, also made up of troops from the United States, Britain and Italy.

THE doctor suffered what, strictly speaking, was a minor accident, the kind that is surprisingly common in hospitals and offices. While suturing a patient, his hands slipped and he jabbed himself with the needle. But this accident could not be taken lightly. The patient had the deadly disease known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). And the physician nearly panicked. ''I felt I was sure to get AIDS, sure I'd die from it,'' the young doctor recalls now. ''Then I assured myself that I was not the first person to stick himself and that no one else has gotten AIDS that way. Still, when I had a cold or wasn't feeling well, it was in the back of my mind.'' Another reassuring factor for him was the presence in the hospital of senior doctors who had dealt with every manner of infectious ailment and lived to tell the tale.

Economic Analysis PARIS, Jan. 2 - Two conflicting views among economists about the dollar's future are raising doubts about the durability of the world recovery as it enters its second year. Right now, the dollar is showing phenomenal strength. But some economists fear that international confidence will eventually snap, forcing United States officials to push up interest rates again to halt an inflationary plunge in the dollar's value as foreign capital flees the country. If this were to happen, this view maintains, economic growth in the United States would grind to a halt, and with it, the single most powerful engine propelling the rest of the world toward recovery. Others, however, fear that without a radical change in United States economic policy, the dollar will remain overly strong, gradually bankrupting a big slice of American industry as it attracts cheap imports and prices United States goods out of foreign markets. According to this scenario, it is support for free trade that would then snap as the United States retreats behind tough protectionist measures.

AN extensive new survey indicates that the use of cocaine continues to increase dramatically in the United States and that the problems associated with it are far worse than many people had believed. These conclusions are drawn by researchers who have interviewed or talked briefly with thousands of callers on a ''cocaine helpline,'' a telephone service set up to offer advice to the nation's five million cocaine users and to people asking questions about cocaine-related problems. The researchers now report receiving about 1,000 calls a day nationwide. Medical and social difficulties appear to be particularly acute among people who take the drug intranasally - that is, by inhaling it through the nose. About half of the people interviewed who said they took the drug intranasally reported feelings of paranoia and panic, considered themselves to be addicted and experienced withdrawal symptoms when they stopped using cocaine.

Fenno Heath stood on a near- empty stage and addressed the hundreds of volunteer singers seated in the audience. He waved his arms, the audience rose to its feet, and he coaxed the singers through the opening chorus of Handel's ''Messiah.'' ''This theater has probably never seen such a performance,'' Mr. Heath, director of the Yale Glee Club, told the crowd at the Shubert Performing Arts Center the other day. The ''Do-It-Yourself Messiah'' was indeed a departure for the theater, which began presenting holiday concerts several weeks ago. For more than 60 years, before it closed in 1976, the center was known as the Shubert Theater and was famous as a place to try out Broadway shows.