Citation

Haran FJ, Slaboda JC, King LA, Wright WG, Houlihan D, Norris JN. J. Neurotrauma 2015; 33(7): 705-711.

Affiliation

Naval Medical Research Center, Neurotrauma, Silver Springs, Maryland, United States ; jacob.n.norris.mil@mail.mil.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2015.4060

PMID

26560740

Abstract

This study evaluated the utility of the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) and the Sensory Organization Test (SOT) as tools for the screening and monitoring of Service members (SMs) with mTBI in a deployed setting during the acute and sub-acute phases of recovery. Patient records (N=699) were reviewed for a cohort of SMs who sustained a blast-related mTBI while deployed to Afghanistan and were treated at the Concussion Restoration Care Center (CRCC) at Camp Leatherneck. Upon initial intake into the CRCC participants completed two assessments of postural control, the BESS and SOT. SMs with mTBI performed significantly worse on the BESS and SOT when compared to comparative samples. When the SOT data was further examined using sensory ratios, the results indicated that postural instability was primarily a result of vestibular and visual integration dysfunction (r > 0.62). The main finding of this study was that the sensitivity of the SOT composite score (50-58%) during the acute phase was higher than previous sensitivities found in the sports medicine literature for impact-related trauma.

Language: en