Affiliations: [a] Department of Health Science, University of Jaén, Paraje Las Lagunillas s/n, Jaén, Spain
| [b] Department of Cell Biology, University of Granada, Campus Fuentenueva, Granada, Spain
| [c] Department of Nursing, University of Jaén, Paraje Las Lagunillas s/n, Jaén, Spain
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Rafael Lomas Vega, PhD, Department of Health Sciences (Building B3-205), University of Jaén, Campus Las Lagunillas s/n, 23071 Jaén, Spain. Tel.: +34 953 212918; Fax: +34 953 211875; E-mail: rlomas@ujaen.es.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:The interpretation of the verticality of the environment is crucial for a proper body balance. The subjective visual vertical test (SVV) is a widely used method to determine the visual perception of the verticality, whose alteration has been related with poor functional status. OBJECTIVE:To analyze the visual perception of the verticality in neurological patients in comparison with healthy controls. METHODS:We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Scielo from the start of the databases until October 2017 and manually searched the reference lists of studies comparing SVV values between neurological patients and controls. Standardized mean difference (SMD) and subgroup analysis were used to analyze differences between neurological patients and healthy subjects and between stroke and non-stroke patients, respectively. RESULTS:A total of 1,916 subjects from 31 studies were included. Neurological patients misestimate the true vertical in comparison with controls (SMD = 1.05; 95% CI: 0.81, 1.28). The misperception of the verticality was higher in stroke patients (SMD = 1.35; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.68) than in patients with other neurological conditions (SMD = 0.48; 95% CI: 0.29, 0.68). CONCLUSIONS:Neurological patients showed a misperception of the verticality, estimated using the SVV. The neurological pathology that most alters the SVV is stroke.
