REPEATABILITY AND RELIABILITY OF A NEW THERMOTACTILE QUANTITATIVE SENSORY TESTING ALGORITHM

• Main Authors: Maruša Klopčič, Miroljub Jakovljević
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Slovenian Medical Association 2009-08-01
• Series: Zdravniški Vestnik
• Online Access: http://vestnik.szd.si/index.php/ZdravVest/article/view/364
• ISSN: 1318-0347; 1581-0224

Background Thermotactile quantitative sensory testing (TQST), as a part of quantitative sensory testing (QST), has been used for quantifying perceived thermal sensory thresholds. The suggested TQST algorithm (method of alternate level stimuli – MALS) tries to overcome the weaknesses of the two most often applied algorithms/methods (thermal sensory limen, method of levels). Subjects and The study included 30 healthy subjects, 16 men and 14 women. On average, they were 24 methods years old (SD 2 years), 178.1 high (SD 8.8 cm) and weighed 74.8 kg (SD 16.4 kg). Warm sensory perceived thresholds (WSPT), cool sensory perceived thresholds (CSPT) and interthreshold interval (II) were obtained for further data analysis. Every subject underwent a complex of three measurements twice. For comparison of experimental conditions, independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC [2.1]), coefficient of variation (CV) and minimal detectable change (MDC95 ) were used to assess repeatability and reliability of the proposed TQST algorithm. Results ICC for all measures within each measurement series (repeatability) was above 0.45 and CV did not exceed 50 %. When comparing both series (reliability), ICC was above 0.30 for all except two measurements and CV did not exceed 50 %. The difference between two measures within a series was in all cases lower than MDC95 . The same was observed when comparing both series. Altogether, 180 measurements of thermotactile sensory perceived thresholds were made and their average duration was 7.1 min (SD 2.3 min). Conclusions Good repeatability and poor reliability of MALS was observed. The causes of poor reliability can be explained with various factors. Short duration of a single measurement implies promising application of the suggested algorithm for clinical purposes.