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The sharpened Romberg test for assessing ataxia in mild acute mountain sickness
Brian G Johnson1, Alex D Wright, Margaret F Beazley
1Chirk Surgery, Chirk, Wrexham, UK. a.wright@bmres.org.uk
Objective:
To evaluate the Sharpened Romberg Test (SRT) as a measure of ataxia in subjects with mild acute mountain sickness in order to determine its sensitivity and specificity.
Methods:
The SRT was performed in 23 subjects during ascent to 5260 m.
Results:
The SRT was more often abnormal than the traditional heel-to-toe test, and at the highest altitude it was related to higher median Lake Louise symptom scores with predictive values of 60% sensitivity and 89% specificity. Our evaluation of the SRT appears to agree with similar studies on ataxia showing a lack of correlation between ataxia and symptoms of acute mountain sickness at altitudes below 5260 m.
Conclusion:
The SRT was easy to perform and provided a quantitative assessment of truncal ataxia in the field without the need for specialized equipment.
