NORMATIVE REFERENCE SCORES FOR STEREOGNOSIS IN YOUNG ADULTS

K. Barsanta¹, A. Kumar², N. Sharma², A.J. Samuel²

Background: Stereognosis is the ability to identify the nature of the object by touch. Stereognosis is one of the important parts of the standard neurological assessment, which is performed under combined cortical sensory assessment. To the best of our knowledge, there is no normative reference scores available for stereognosis to date.

Purpose: To estimate normative reference scores of stereognosis among young college going adults aged between 18 to 25 years.

Methods: 50 college-going young adults (2 males and 27 females) aged between 18 to 25 years were included in the normative research. The selection of participants was made on the basis of predefined inclusion criteria. Participants who were able to follow 3-stage simple comments and willing to spare 5 minutes were included in the study. While the participants with known neurological disorders were excluded from the study. The minimum sample required for the study was calculated from the unpublished pilot study, using estimating mean formulae (Z α σ/d)2. A pilot study with a sample size of 12 (6 male and 6 females) was executed to determine the presence of any procedural difficulties while performing the experiment and to report the standard deviation (SD or σ) and standard error of the mean (SEM or d) for substituting in the above estimating mean formula to calculate the sample size for the main study. By substituting in the above formulae, the minimum required sample for the study was found to be, n=49. We have recruited, n=50 for the calculation accuracy. Details of the study were explained to participants before the commitment of the test and an informed consent form was signed from the participants. Anthropometric measurements such as height (cm) and weight (kg) were taken before the actual study procedure in determining stereognosis. The participants were asked to randomly pick up three small folded pieces of paper (chits) from the bowl containing a total of six pieces in which the names of objects (pen, coin, watch, ring, eraser, and sharpener) used in daily life were written. Based on the selected object written on the pieces of paper, they were asked to name them in a blindfolded position. The time taken to identify the objects were recorded in seconds for estimating the normative reference scores of stereognosis.

Results: Mean (95% CI) of age, height, weight and BMI of the participants recruited were 20.7 (20.2-21.3) years, 162.6 (160.4-164.8) cm, 59.1 (55.9-62.1) kg and 22.3 (21.3-23.2) kg/m2 respectively. There exists no significant difference (p = 0.899) between male [7.3 (6.3-8.3) seconds] and female [7.4 (6.5-8.2) seconds].

Conclusion(s): Normative reference scores of stereognosis in young college-going adults aged between 18-25 years have been established. However, future studies in other age groups with large sample size are needed to substantiate these findings.

Implications: Normative reference scores of stereognosis can be used in the standard neurological screening as a part of the combined cortical sensory assessment. These values can be used among the patient with stroke, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, etc to compare with them to document the degree of prognosis.

Funding, acknowledgements: None

Keywords: Neurological assessment, Screening, Neurology

Topic: Neurology

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: Maharishi Markandeshwar Institute of physiotherapy and Rehabilitation

Committee: Maharishi Markandeshwar Institute of Medical Sciences and Research

Ethics number: MMIPR/DRC-SPC/BPT/19/02