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 2008 New Investigator Award

Julie Honaker, PhD
Mayo Clinic
Title: Gaze Stabilization Testing for Predicting Fall Risk
Mentor: Neil T. Shepard, PhD, Mayo Clinic

Abstract: Reliable clinical assessment methods to identify falling risk are needed for appropriate referral and outcomes following intervention for risk of falling programs. Gaze Stabilization testing (GST) is a new clinical test for evaluating impairments in perceiving objects accurately during head movements. The use of this test to determine if an individual may be at risk of falling has not been explored in the literature. The aim of this study will be to determine whether Gaze Stabilization testing differs in patients who have experience falls in the recent past versus not and to identify a cut-point of GST^ that maximizes sensitivity and specificity for identifying patients at risk for falls. A secondary aim will be to compare GST versus the Dynamic Gait Index (DGI) for identifying patients at risk for falls. An equal number of patients with and without a history of falls will be included in a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis to assess whether GST can identify patients at risk for falls. Additionally, areas under the ROC curves for GST and DGI will be compared to assess which test is better for discriminating between patients at risk for falls versus not.

Acknowledgement: I wish to thank my mentor, Dr. Neil T. Shepard, for his valuable assistance and expertise with the development of this project and for his countless words of encouragement as I begin my career in research. I would also like to recognize Dr. Robert W. Keith for believing in me to pursue a degree in research and for giving me the strength and advice to complete my doctorate in philosophy.

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