Usefulness of Modified Romberg Test in Screening Persons with Vestibular Dysfunction

Abstract

Introduction: Development of age-appropriate clinical norms is needed for modified Romberg test (MRT) in the Indian scenario. Hence, the present study was undertaken. Objectives: The specific objectives of the study were to investigate the age and gender effect on MRT, comparison of MRT in normal individuals and individuals with vestibular dysfunctions, and association of MRT with caloric and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) test. Materials and Methods: The study involved two groups of participants: Group I had 90 healthy individuals (45 males and 45 females) and Group II had 30 individuals with vestibular dysfunction. MRT was administered on both the groups. Furthermore, participants of Group II underwent caloric and cVEMP test. Results: It was observed that scores of MRT reduced with increase in age among the participants of Group I. However, gender did not show any significant effect for MRT. On comparison, MRT revealed that healthy participants performed superior to individuals with vestibular dysfunction. Further, correlation analysis between MRT with caloric test and cVEMP showed poor association between them (P > 0.05). Conclusions: MRT is affected by age, and therefore, age-specific norms for MRT are required for each clinic.