Tandem gait test-retest reliability among healthy physically active young adults.

BACKGROUND: A tandem gait assessment is recommended after concussion. There is limited research examining psychometric properties of tandem gait assessments. OBJECTIVE: To determine tandem gait test intertrial and 1-week test-retest reliability. It was hypothesized that the tandem gait test would yield moderate to good reliability, times would improve across trials/sessions, and average scores would have higher reliability. DESIGN: Reliability study. SETTING: Research laboratory. INTERVENTIONS: Sixty participants (36 females, age: 20.4 ± 1.8 years) completed 10 tandem gait test trials on two occasions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Dependent variables included number of normal trials (participants stayed on the line, heel and toe touched on every step, and they avoided touching an examiner/object) and times for each trial. We analyzed intertrial reliability using a one-way analysis of covariance and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), and test-retest reliability using dependent samples t-tests and ICCs. RESULTS: At the first testing session, there were significant differences in times across seven trials (F2.44,80.42 = 21.55, p < .001). All trials were faster than the first trial. The second, third, and fifth trial were faster than the previous trial. There was moderately high overall reliability across the first seven trials (ICC2,1 = 0.77, 95% confidence interval = 0.63, 0.87). All times were faster at the second testing session (compared to the first). Most outcomes for the 1-week test-retest reliability demonstrated at least moderate reliability, including the best times for the first three, four, and five trials; average times for the first four and five trials; and best and average times for all of the participants' normal trials during five and 10 attempted trials. CONCLUSIONS: There are practice effects when administering multiple tandem gait test trials, but scores stabilize after the fifth trial. There are practice effects associated with multiple administrations of the tandem gait test, but outcomes using times for four or five trials have adequate 1-week test-retest reliability in healthy physically active young adults.

Tandem gait test performance in healthy, physically active adults: Clinical implications for concussion evaluation.

OBJECTIVES: To identify factors affecting performance on the tandem gait test in healthy, physically active adults. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. METHODS: Participants completed the tandem gait test according to Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 3 (SCAT3) guidelines. Dependent variables included time for best trial (initial 3m, turn, final 3m and total) and whether the trial was "pass" or "fail". Independent variables included sex, concussion history, foot length, height and total number of trials. RESULTS: 55% (35/64) of participants passed the first trial of the tandem gait test; 19% (12/64) had a best time <14s. Sex and concussion history did not affect performance (p>0.05). There were no differences in turn times for those with and without a history of concussion (t=0.26, p=0.80). The number of trials was not significantly correlated with best time (þ=-0.04, p=0.74). There were low (þ=-0.31) to negligible (þ<0.30) correlations between foot length, height and all portions of the test. There was more variability in times for the turn (COV=27%) than during the straight portions (COV=18%). CONCLUSIONS: Current recommendations for the tandem gait test led to a high false-positive rate in healthy, physically active adults. Sex, concussion history, number of trials and foot length had little to no influence on scores on the test. Turning times were more variable than times on the straight portions of the test. Clinicians may use these results as a guideline when interpreting performance on the tandem gait test in healthy physically active adults.

Near Point of Convergence Deficits and Treatment Following Concussion: A Systematic Review.

CONTEXT: Convergence dysfunction following concussion is common. Near point of convergence (NPC) is a quick and easy assessment that may detect oculomotor dysfunction such as convergence insufficiency (CI), but NPC measurements are rarely reported. Convergence dysfunction is treatable in otherwise healthy patients; the effectiveness of oculomotor therapy following concussion is unclear. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this article was to systematically review the literature and answer the following clinical questions: (1) Is performance on NPC negatively affected in patients diagnosed with a concussion compared with pre-injury levels or healthy controls? (2) In patients diagnosed with concussion, what is the effect of oculomotor/vision therapy on NPC break measurements? EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: The search was conducted in CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, MEDLINE, and PubMed using terms related to concussion, mild traumatic brain injury, convergence, vision, and rehabilitation. Literature considered for review included original research publications that collected measures of NPC break in concussion patients, with a pretest-posttest comparison or comparison with a healthy control group. A literature review was completed; 242 relevant articles were reviewed, with 18 articles meeting criteria for inclusion in the review. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Articles were categorized according to the clinical question they addressed. The patient or participant sample (number, sex, age, and health status), study design, instrumentation, or intervention used, and main results were extracted from each article. CONCLUSIONS: The authors' main findings suggest that there is a moderate level of evidence that patients have impaired NPC up to several months postconcussion, and a low level of evidence that impairments can be successfully treated with oculomotor therapy. These findings should be cautiously evaluated; the studies are limited by weak/moderate quality, small sample sizes, varied methodology, and nonrandomized treatment groups. Future research should explore factors affecting convergence postconcussion and include randomized, controlled studies to determine if performing vision therapy improves visual measures and promotes recovery.

Pulmonary Vein Stenosis: Outcomes in Children With Congenital Heart Disease and Prematurity.

Pulmonary vein stenosis (PVS) is a rare condition that has been linked to prematurity and congenital heart disease (CHD). Despite these associations, treatment options are limited and outcomes are guarded. We investigated differences in PVS outcomes based on the presence of CHD and prematurity, and risk factors for mortality or lung transplantation in PVS. Single-center retrospective cohort study of patients diagnosed with PVS between January 2005 and May 2016 and identified by ICD codes with chart validation. Cox proportional hazard models assessed risk factors for the composite outcome of mortality or lung transplantation. Ninety-three patients with PVS were identified: 65 (70%) had significant CHD, 32 (34%) were premature, and 14 (15%) were premature with CHD. Sixty-five (70%) underwent a PVS intervention and 42 (46%) underwent ≥2 interventions. Twenty-five subjects (27%) died or underwent lung transplant 5.8 months (interquartile range [IQR] 1.1, 15.3) after diagnosis. There was no difference in age at diagnosis or mortality based on presence of CHD or prematurity. PVS diagnosis before age 6 months and greater than 1 pulmonary vein affected at diagnosis were associated with higher mortality (hazards ratio [HR] 3.4 (95% confidence interval 1.5, 7.5), P = 0.003, and HR 2.1 per additional vein affected (95% confidence interval 1.3, 3.4), P = 0.004, respectively). Survival in children with PVS is poor, independent of underlying CHD or prematurity. Younger age and greater number of veins affected at diagnosis are risk factors for worse outcome. Understanding causal mechanisms and development of treatment strategies are necessary to improve outcomes.

Right ventricular function mirrors clinical improvement with use of prostacyclin analogues in pediatric pulmonary hypertension.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) causes significant morbidity and mortality in children due to right ventricular (RV) failure. We sought to determine the effect of prostacyclin analogues on RV function assessed by echocardiography in children with PH. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of children with PH treated with a prostacyclin analogue (epoprostenol or treprostinil) between January 2001 and August 2015 at our center. Data were collected before initiation of treatment (baseline) and at 1-3 and 6-12 months after. Protocolized echocardiogram measurements including tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) and RV global longitudinal strain were made with blinding to clinical information. Forty-nine individuals (65% female), aged 0-29 years at the time of prostacyclin initiation were included. Disease types included pulmonary arterial hypertension (idiopathic [35%], heritable [2%], and congenital heart disease-associated [18%]), developmental lung disease (43%), and chronic thromboembolic PH (2%). Participants received intravenous (IV) epoprostenol (14%) and IV/subcutaneous (SQ) (67%) or inhaled (18%) treprostinil. Over the study period, prostacyclin analogues were associated with improvement in TAPSE ( P = 0.007), RV strain ( P < 0.001), and qualitative RV function ( P = 0.037) by echocardiogram, and BNP ( P < 0.001), functional class ( P = 0.047) and 6-min walk distance ( P = 0.001). TAPSE and strain improved at early follow up ( P = 0.05 and P = 0.002, respectively) despite minimal RV pressure change. In children with PH, prostacyclin analogues are associated with an early and sustained improvement in RV function measured as TAPSE and strain as well as clinical markers of PH severity. RV strain may be a sensitive marker of RV function in this population.

Clinical Utility of the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 3 (SCAT3) Tandem-Gait Test in High School Athletes.

CONTEXT: Dynamic balance during functional movement may provide important clinical information after concussion. The Sport Concussion Assessment Tool, version 3 (SCAT3), includes a timed tandem-gait test (heel-to-toe walking) administered with a pass-fail scoring system. Minimal evidence supports inclusion of the tandem-gait test in the SCAT3, especially in high school athletes. OBJECTIVE: To determine (1) the percentage of healthy high school athletes who passed (best trial ≤14 seconds) the tandem-gait test at baseline, (2) the association between sex and test performance (pass versus fail), and (3) the relationships among sex, age, height, and tandem-gait test score. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: High school sports medicine center. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred athletes from 4 high schools (age = 15.8 ± 1.2 years, height = 170.3 ± 10.3 cm, weight = 64.8 ± 14.5 kg). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Healthy participants completed 4 trials of the SCAT3 tandem-gait test and a demographic questionnaire. Outcome measures were passing rate at baseline on the tandem-gait test and tandem-gait test score (time). RESULTS: Overall, 24.5% (49/200) of participants passed the test. Sex and performance were associated (χ2 = 15.15, P < .001), with a passing rate of 38.6% (32/83) for males and 14.5% (17/117) for females. The regression model including predictor variables of sex and height, with the outcome variable of tandem-gait test score and time, was significant ( R2 = 0.20, P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the tandem-gait test had a high false-positive rate in high school athletes. Given that more than 75% of healthy participants failed the tandem-gait test, the 14-second cutoff appears to have limited clinical utility in the adolescent population. Functional movement deficits after concussion need to be accounted for, but the 14-second cutoff for the SCAT3 tandem-gait test does not appear to be an ideal way to assess these deficits in high school athletes.