Affiliations: [a]
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea
| [b]
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Uijeongbu St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea
| [c]
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, St. Vincent’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea
| [d]
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Bucheon St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Jae-Hyun Seo, MD, PhD, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 222, Banpo-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul, 06591, Korea. Tel.: +82 2 2258 6210; Fax: +82 2 595 1354; Email: revivalseo@catholic.ac.kr.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The upright head roll test (UHRT) is a recently introduced diagnostic maneuver for lateral semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (LSC-BPPV). OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the UHRT. METHODS: Two separate studies were conducted. Study 1 analyzed 827 results of videonystagmography (VNG) to assess UHRT reliability, and Study 2 analyzed 130 LSC-BPPV cases to evaluate UHRT validity. RESULTS: The inter-test reliability between UHRT and the supine head roll test (SHRT) showed substantial agreement (Cohen’s kappa = 0.753) in direction-changing positional nystagmus (DCPN) and almost perfect agreement (Cohen’s kappa = 0.836) in distinguishing the direction of DCPN. The validity assessment of UHRT showed high accuracy in diagnosing LSC-BPPV (80.0%) and in differentiating the variant types (74.6%). UHRT was highly accurate in diagnosing the canalolithiasis type in LSC-BPPV patients (Cohen’s kappa = 0.835); however, it showed only moderate accuracy in diagnosing the cupulolithiasis type (Cohen’s kappa = 0.415). The intensity of nystagmus in UHRT was relatively weaker than that in SHRT (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION:
UHRT is a reliable test for diagnosing LSC-BPPV and distinguishing subtypes. However, UHRT has a limitation in discriminating the affected side owing to a weaker intensity of nystagmus than SHRT.
