Standardization of the face-hand test in a Brazilian multicultural population: prevalence of sensory extinction and implications for neurological diagnosis

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:The face-hand test is a simple, practical, and rapid test to detect neurological syndromes. However, it has not previously been assessed in a Brazilian sample; therefore, the objective of the present study was to standardize the face-hand test for use in the multi-cultural population of Brazil and identify the sociodemographic factors affecting the results.METHODS:This was a cross sectional study of 150 individuals. The sociodemographic variables that were collected included age, gender, race, body mass index and years of education. Standardization of the face-hand test occurred in 2 rounds of 10 sensory stimuli, with the participant seated to support the trunk and their vision obstructed in a sound-controlled environment. The face-hand test was conducted by applying 2 rounds of 10 sensory stimuli that were applied to the face and hand simultaneously. The associations between the face-hand test and sociodemographic variables were analyzed using Mann-Whitney tests and Spearman correlations. Binomial models were adjusted for the number of face-hand test variations, and ROC curves evaluated sensitivity and specificity of sensory extinction.RESULTS:There was no significant relationship between the sociodemographic variables and the number of stimuli perceived for the face-hand test. There was a high relative frequency of detection, 8 out of 10 stimuli, in this population. Sensory extinction was 25.3%, which increased with increasing age (OR=1.4[1:01–1:07]; p=0.006) and decreased significantly with increasing education (OR=0.82[0.71-0.94]; p=0.005).CONCLUSION:In the Brazilian population, a normal face-hand test score ranges between 8–10 stimuli, and the results indicate that sensory extinction is associated with increased age and lower levels of education.

About the Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Various Methods of Diagnosis, Prediction and Classification Presented in the Literature

“…It was noted that the best separation is obtained with a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 76.9%. In work Luvizutto G. J., et al the facehand test method was used to study the phenomenon of sensory extinction with reference to 150 individuals with different socio-demographic data of the Brazilian population [10], Binomial models were adapted for processing the data obtained by this method, which were used to construct ROC curves and assess the sensitivity and specificity of sensory extinction. As a result, it was obtained that sensory extinction increases with age and significantly decreases with increasing level of education.…”