Agreement Between Clinical Examination and Quantitative Tests of Neurologic Function

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dick R ; Fine, Lawrence J. ; Steenland, Kyle
• Description:
  Quantitative neurological tests are often cheaper and easier than clinical examinations, and provide continuous data which may discriminate between exposed and nonexposed groups with more sensitivity than dichotomous (normal/abnormal) examination data. We compare clinical examinations and analogous quantitative tests for arm tremor, postural sway, and vibrotactile sensitivity (finger and toe), for 384 subjects. The "abnormal" clinical outcomes studied were relatively common (range, 3-36%), and did not result in impairment of daily activity for affected subjects. All the quantitative tests were reasonably good predictors of the corresponding clinical outcome. The most predictive test was for toe vibrotactile sensitivity. The probability of an abnormal clinical result for those in the worst quartile for the toe test was 0.63, compared with 0.36 for all subjects. Our results suggest that certain quantitative tests might be used in epidemiologic studies instead of a physical examination. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Nervous System Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Neurologic Tests Exposure-levels Neurological-system Neurologic Exam Quantitative-analysis Sensitivity-testing
• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Publisher:
  Wiley-Liss Inc.
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  361-368
• Volume:
  39
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20021879
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2001 Apr; 39(4):361-368
• Contact Point Address:
  Kyle Steenland, National Institutue for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, Ohio 45226-1998
• Email:
  nsteenland@cdc.gov
• Editor(s):
  Landrigan PJ
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2001
• NORA Priority Area:
  Research Tools and Approaches: Risk Assessment Methods
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d6fd305799d097632dbe59dd7c33eb3be2c8ce852c7ffbd2cb6fbf714b6de8471a83e23c491a706c3fddfd8353e6b186b5b1157e4a7659e6fb2b2504e1cff378
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/198966/cdc_198966_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 111.62 KB ]