| dc.description.abstracten | Background and aim Although upper limb movements in
the vertical plane are very commonly used during the
activities of daily life, there is still a lack of a reliable and
easy standardized procedure to quantify them. In particular,
ageing is associated with a decline in performances of
coordinated movements, but a tool to quantify this decline
is missing.
Methods We created a novel portable test called counting
arm movement test (CAM test). Participants were asked to
perform fast and accurate successive pointing movements
towards two fixed targets (mechanical counters) located in
a vertical plane in the parasagittal axis during three different
time periods (15, 30, 45 s). Each upper limb was
assessed separately. The test was evaluated in a group of 63
healthy subjects (mean age ± SD 49.1 ± 19.8 years; F/M
33/30; range 18–87 years).
Results Motor performances (number of clicks) significantly
decreased as a function of age for both the dominant
side (age effect; linear regression; p\0.0001 for 15, 30
and 45 s) and the non-dominant side (linear regression;
p\0.0001 for 15, 30 and 45 s). Performances on the
dominant and non-dominant side were linearly correlated
with the time periods (p\0.0001 on both sides). The
symmetry index (ratio of performance on the dominant side
divided by performance on the non-dominant side) was
correlated linearly and positively with the duration of the
test (y = 0.002x ? 1.053; p = 0.0056). We also found a
linear relationship between upper limb length and motor
performance on the non-dominant side for 15 s
(p = 0.023) and 45 s (p = 0.041). The test was characterized
by a very high correlation between the results
obtained by two investigators during two successive sessions
in a subgroup of 7 subjects (Pearson product moment
correlation: 0.989 for the dominant side and 0.988 for the
non-dominant side).
Conclusion The CAM test appears as a robust and low
cost tool to quantify upper limb pointing movements. In
particular, the test strongly discriminates the effects of age
upon motor performances in upper limbs. Future studies
are now required to establish the sensitivity, specificity and
reliability of this procedure in selected neuromuscular or
skeletal diseases affecting the elderly. | en_US |
