Standardization of the face-hand test in a Brazilian multicultural population: prevalence of sensory extinction and implications for neurological diagnosis

OBJECTIVE: The face-hand test is a simple, practical, and rapid test to detect neurological syndromes. However, it has not previously been assessed in a Brazilian sample; therefore, the objective of the present study was to standardize the face-hand test for use in the multi-cultural population of Brazil and identify the sociodemographic factors affecting the results. METHODS: This was a cross sectional study of 150 individuals. The sociodemographic variables that were collected included age, gender, race, body mass index and years of education. Standardization of the face-hand test occurred in 2 rounds of 10 sensory stimuli, with the participant seated to support the trunk and their vision obstructed in a sound-controlled environment. The face-hand test was conducted by applying 2 rounds of 10 sensory stimuli that were applied to the face and hand simultaneously. The associations between the face-hand test and sociodemographic variables were analyzed using Mann-Whitney tests and Spearman correlations. Binomial models were adjusted for the number of face-hand test variations, and ROC curves evaluated sensitivity and specificity of sensory extinction. RESULTS: There was no significant relationship between the sociodemographic variables and the number of stimuli perceived for the face-hand test. There was a high relative frequency of detection, 8 out of 10 stimuli, in this population. Sensory extinction was 25.3%, which increased with increasing age (OR=1.4[1:01–1:07]; p=0.006) and decreased significantly with increasing education (OR=0.82[0.71-0.94]; p=0.005). CONCLUSION: In the Brazilian population, a normal face-hand test score ranges between 8–10 stimuli, and the results indicate that sensory extinction is associated with increased age and lower levels of education.

Estructura de la sintomatología psiquiátrica según el SRQ-18 en pacientes ambulatorios con trastornos mentales evaluados en un hospital general de Lima / Structure of psychiatric symptoms according to the SRQ-18 in outpatients with mental disorders assessed in a general hospital in Lima

Objetivos: describir la estructura de la sintomatología psiquiátrica evaluada mediante el instrumento SRQ-18 enpacientes ambulatorios con trastornos mentales de un hospital general de Lima. Métodos: Utilizando un registrode datos demográficos y clínicos de 210 pacientes de consultorio externo de psiquiatría del Hospital CayetanoHeredia (Lima, Perú), se exploraron los vínculos entre síntomas psiquiátricos del cuestionario SRQ-18 mediantecorrelaciones tetracóricas graficadas a través de redes generadas con el programa NodeXL...

Objectives: to describe the structure of psychiatric symptomatology evaluated through SRQ-18 in outpatients withmental disorders in a general hospital in Lima. Methods: Using the demographic and clinical information from filesof 210 psychiatric out-patients in the Hospital Cayetano Heredia (Lima, Peru), the connections between psychiatricsymptoms of SRQ-18 questionnaire evaluated by means of tetrachoric correlations were graphically representedin a network generated with the NodeXL program...