Impact of Subject and Time Related Factors on Reliability of Neurobehavioral Tests / 대한산업의학회지

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to select neurobehavioral tests that are more reliable and less affected by subjects characteristics and test conditions. METHODS: Five computerized and five traditional neurobehavioral tests and retests were administered to 85 medical school students and 35 hospital workers. The computerized tests consisted of the Simple Reaction Time, Addition, Symbol Digit, Digit Span, and Finger Tapping Speed, while the traditional tests comprised the Benton Visual Retention test, Digit Symbol, Digit Span, Pursuit Aiming, and pegboard. In addition, the effects of various factors on the reliability of the neurobehavioral tests, including age, sex, educational level, computer familiarity, test intervals, and test time of day, were also evaluated. RESULTS: Among the computerized neurobehavioral tests, the reliability of Addition, Symbol Digit, Digit Span, and Finger Tapping Speed were not affected significantly by age, sex, test interval, or computer familiarity. It was found that Finger Tapping Speed is not affected by educational level. When the time of retest was incongruous with the time of the first test, test-retest reliability was lower in most neurobehavioral tests except computerized Addition, Digit Span, and Finger Tapping Speed, and traditional Symbol Digit. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the computerized Addition, Symbol digit, Digit Span, and Finger Tapping Speed, and the traditional Digit Symbol are more satisfactory for our purposes. These results should facilitate selection of the most appropriate tests for periodical evaluation of the central nervous system of workers exposed to neurotoxic substances in Korea.