Evaluation of a bedside test of utricular function - the bucket test - in older individuals.
CONCLUSIONS
As a bedside test of subjective visual vertical (SVV), the 'bucket test' has a role as a viable and cost-effective clinical test of unilateral utricular dysfunction in older individuals.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether the bucket test as a test of the SVV is a valid bedside test of utricular function in older individuals.


METHODS
This was a diagnostic validation study at a tertiary academic medical center. Vestibular function was evaluated using sound-evoked cervical and tap-evoked ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP and oVEMP, respectively) asymmetry ratios, the bucket test of SVV, and the Dizziness Handicap Index (DHI), in 51 older individuals aged 70-95 years.


RESULTS
Bucket test scores are correlated in both magnitude and direction with utricle-selective tap-evoked oVEMP asymmetry ratios, but not with sound-evoked cVEMP asymmetry ratios, which are saccule-selective, or with the DHI. Receiver operating characteristics analysis suggests that the bucket test is more specific than sensitive for utricular dysfunction, and a bucket test SVV score of 2° may maximize diagnostic yield relative to the currently accepted score of 3.
Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine , Baltimore, MD , USA.
Daniel Q
DQ
Sun
M Geraldine
MG
Zuniga
Marcela
M
Davalos-Bichara
John P
JP
Carey
Yuri
Y
Agrawal
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001844:Bone Conduction / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D015837:Vestibular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D058585:Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D014724:Vestibular Function Tests / Q000379:methods*; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000503:physiopathology*