Affiliations: [a]
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| [b]
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Dr. Colin R. Grove, 6630 University Avenue, Middleton, WI 53562, USA. Tel.: +1 608 263 8412; Fax: +1 608 263 5011; E-mail: crgrove@wisc.edu.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:The traditional Sensory Organization Test (T-SOT) is a gold standard balance test; however, the psychometric properties of assessing sensory organization with a virtual-reality-based posturography device have not been established. OBJECTIVE:Our overall aims were to assess the criterion, concurrent, and convergent validity of a next-generation Sensory Organization Test (NG-SOT). METHODS:Thirty-four adults (17 vestibular-impaired) participated. We compared the area under the curve (AUC) for receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis for the T-SOT and NG-SOT composite scores. Between-group and between-test differences for the composite and sensory analysis scores from each SOT were assessed using Wilcoxon Rank Sum tests. Additionally, we ran Spearman correlations between the NG-SOT composite score and outcomes of interest. RESULTS:The AUCs for the NG-SOT and T-SOT were 0.950 (0.883, 1) and 0.990 (0.969, 1) respectively (p = 0.168). The median composite, vision, and visual preference scores were lower on the NG-SOT compared to the T-SOT; whereas, the median somatosensory score was higher on the NG-SOT compared to the T-SOT. Associations between the composite score and patient-reported or performance-based outcomes ranged from poor to strong. CONCLUSIONS:The NG-SOT is a valid measure of balance in adults. However, the results of the NG-SOT and T-SOT should not be used interchangeably.
