Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Oct;32(8):1309-11.
doi: 10.1097/MAO.0b013e31822e5bee.

The modified Romberg Balance Test: normative data in U.S. adults

Yuri Agrawal  1 , John P Carey, Howard J Hoffman, Daniel A Sklare, Michael C Schubert
Affiliations

The modified Romberg Balance Test: normative data in U.S. adults

Yuri Agrawal et al. Otol Neurotol. 2011 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: To generate normative values for performance on the modified Romberg Test of Standing Balance on Firm and Compliant Support Surfaces stratified by age, sex, and race/ethnicity and to determine fall risk associated with different levels of performance.

Study design: National cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Ambulatory examination centers.

Patients: U.S. adults 40 years and older who participated in the 2001-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (n = 5,086).

Interventions: Time to failure on the modified Romberg Test of Standing Balance on Firm and Compliant Support Surfaces.

Main outcome measures: History of falling in the previous 12 months.

Results: We observed that the time to failure decreased with increasing age across all sex and race/ethnicity categories. We found that once individuals went below a time to failure of 20 seconds, there was a significant greater than 3-fold increase in the odds of falling. In general, participants crossed the 20-second threshold at the age of 60 to 69 years.

Conclusion: We established nationally representative normative values for performance on the modified Romberg test and noted differences in the rates of change across demographic groups. In addition, we demonstrated the fall risk associated with different levels of performance. These data will aid the clinician in interpreting and risk stratifying their patient's performance on this postural test.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Agrawal Y, Carey JP, Della Santina CC, Schubert MC, Minor LB. Disorders of balance and vestibular function in US adults: data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2001–2004. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(10):938–944. - PubMed
    1. Dobie RA. Does computerized dynamic posturography help us care for our patients? Am J Otol. 1997;18(1):108–112. - PubMed
    1. Cohen H, Blatchly CA, Gombash LL. A study of the clinical test of sensory interaction and balance. Phys Ther. 1993;73(6):346–351. discussion 351–4. - PubMed
    1. Vereeck L, Wuyts F, Truijen S, Van de Heyning P. Clinical assessment of balance: normative data, and gender and age effects. Int J Audiol. 2008;47(2):67–75. - PubMed
    1. Analytic and reporting guidelines: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) Hyattsville, Maryland: 2006. Statistics NCfH, Prevention CfDCa.