Scientific/Clinical ArticleAssessing Dexterity Function: A Comparison of Two Alternatives for the NIH Toolbox
Section snippets
Instrument Identification
In a preliminary survey, we identified 205 existing measures of motor function (i.e., locomotion, balance, dexterity, endurance, and muscle strength). Of the 205 measures identified, 128 were eliminated because they were self-report, designed for a specific disease population, or not purely measuring-proposed Toolbox dexterity subdomains. The remaining 77 measures of motor function (18 locomotion, 21 balance, 17 dexterity, 11 endurance, and 10 strength) went through in-depth review by the
Results
A total of 340 subjects participated in our study. Six subjects were removed because they reported that they had a stroke or transient ischemic attack. An additional 29 subjects were removed because of missing data, including missing age (n = 6), missing handedness (n = 2), and incomplete data across multiple dexterity trials (n = 21). A total of 305 remaining subjects were included in the analyses.
Of subjects with incomplete data, 10 subjects were 3 or 4 years old, three subjects were 5 or 6 years
Discussion
The NIH Toolbox Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function12 is a major measurement initiative funded by the NIH Neuroscience Blueprint. It is focused on developing a standard set of measures of motor, cognitive, sensory, and emotional health and function for use in epidemiologic and longitudinal research. The NIH Toolbox is intended to be brief, portable, easy to administer by lay administrators, and feasible for measuring dexterity across the life span. Given the importance of manual
Conclusion
The 9-HPT is recommended as the preferred measure of dexterity in the NIH Toolbox Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function, and the Grooved Pegboard test is recommended as a supplemental Toolbox measure. In the next phase of the NIH Toolbox project, we will recruit a larger and more diverse sample to establish norms for all of the NIH Toolbox measures across the age span.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Jennifer Beaumont for her statistical support and analysis; Phoebe Block, Michael Jesselson, Caroline Marchand, and Jessica Crocker for their assistance in data collection; and Edward Wang for coordinating the project at its early stage.
This study is funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the Blueprint for Neuroscience Research and the Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network (OppNet), National Institutes of Health under Contract No.
Quiz: Article #203
Record your answers on the Return Answer Form found on the tear-out coupon at the back of this issue or to complete online and use a credit card, go to JHTReadforCredit.com. There is only one best answer for each question.
- #1.
The authors investigated the following tests of hand dexterity function
- a.
Nine Hole Pegboard and the Sollerman Dexterity Sample
- b.
Moberg Pick Up and 9-HPT
- c.
grooved pegboard and Purdue Pegboard
- d.
grooved pegboard and 9-HPT
- a.
- #2.
The psychometric properties tested were
- a.
sensitivity and specificity
- b.
- a.
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