TY - JOUR
T1 - Self-Reported Sense of Direction and Vestibular Function in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA)
AU - Gandhi, Priyal
AU - Biju, Kevin
AU - Klatt, Brooke N.
AU - Simonsick, Eleanor
AU - Agrawal, Yuri
N1 - Funding Information:
Participants for this cross-sectional study were recruited from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), a longstanding cohort study of healthy aging supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Aging. The study currently has over 1300 healthy participants ages 20 and older that meet a series of predetermined criteria (“BLSA History” ). Eligible participants for this cross-sectional study completed both the modified self-reported Santa Barbara Sense-of-Direction (SBSOD) questionnaire and vestibular function testing during the same BLSA study visit. Additional vision, hearing, and cognitive metrics were also assessed, including visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, stereoacuity, visual fields, auditory 4-frequency tone perception, Card Rotation Test score, and Triangle Completion Test performance. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants, and the BLSA study protocol was approved by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Institutional Review Board.
Funding Information:
Dr. Yuri Agrawal is receiving grant funding from NIA (#RO1 AG057667), NIH/NIDCD (#R03 DC015583), and NIH/NIDCD (#K23 DC013056). Priyal Gandhi was also a participant in the Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) Summer Program, which was funded by NIA (#2T35AG026758).
Funding Information:
We would like to acknowledge support for the statistical analysis from the National Center for Research Resources and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health through Grant Number 1UL1TR001079.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Association for Research in Otolaryngology.
PY - 2021/4
Y1 - 2021/4
N2 - Sense of direction is an individual’s ability to navigate within an environment and generate a mental map of novel environments. Although sense of direction is correlated with psychometric tests of spatial ability, it also reflects an individual’s real-world spatial ability that is not fully captured by laboratory-based assessments. Sense of direction is known to vary widely in the population and has been shown to decline with age. However, other factors that contribute to an individual’s sense of direction have not been well-characterized. Vestibular impairment has been linked to reduced spatial cognitive ability, which encompasses spatial memory and navigation skills. Several studies have shown that vestibular input is necessary for effective spatial cognition, notably accurate spatial navigation ability. These studies have typically considered laboratory-based spatial navigation assessments; however, the influence of vestibular function on variation in real-world sense of direction is unknown. In this study, we evaluated whether vestibular function is associated with self-reported sense of direction. Participants for this cross-sectional study were recruited from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, a longstanding cohort study of healthy aging. In a modified version of the Santa Barbara Sense-of-Direction (SBSOD) Scale, participants rated statements about spatial and navigational abilities. A lower average score indicates poorer self-reported sense of direction. Vestibular function testing included cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) to assess saccular function, ocular VEMP to assess utricular function, and the video head-impulse test to assess semicircular canal function based on vestibular ocular reflex. The study sample included 82 participants with mean age of 71.0 (± 16.9) years and mean SBSOD score of 4.95(± 1.07). In a multivariate linear regression model, female sex and bilateral saccular loss were associated with a lower average SBSOD score. These data suggest that vestibular impairment contributes to the known variation in spatial navigation ability.
AB - Sense of direction is an individual’s ability to navigate within an environment and generate a mental map of novel environments. Although sense of direction is correlated with psychometric tests of spatial ability, it also reflects an individual’s real-world spatial ability that is not fully captured by laboratory-based assessments. Sense of direction is known to vary widely in the population and has been shown to decline with age. However, other factors that contribute to an individual’s sense of direction have not been well-characterized. Vestibular impairment has been linked to reduced spatial cognitive ability, which encompasses spatial memory and navigation skills. Several studies have shown that vestibular input is necessary for effective spatial cognition, notably accurate spatial navigation ability. These studies have typically considered laboratory-based spatial navigation assessments; however, the influence of vestibular function on variation in real-world sense of direction is unknown. In this study, we evaluated whether vestibular function is associated with self-reported sense of direction. Participants for this cross-sectional study were recruited from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, a longstanding cohort study of healthy aging. In a modified version of the Santa Barbara Sense-of-Direction (SBSOD) Scale, participants rated statements about spatial and navigational abilities. A lower average score indicates poorer self-reported sense of direction. Vestibular function testing included cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) to assess saccular function, ocular VEMP to assess utricular function, and the video head-impulse test to assess semicircular canal function based on vestibular ocular reflex. The study sample included 82 participants with mean age of 71.0 (± 16.9) years and mean SBSOD score of 4.95(± 1.07). In a multivariate linear regression model, female sex and bilateral saccular loss were associated with a lower average SBSOD score. These data suggest that vestibular impairment contributes to the known variation in spatial navigation ability.
KW - Saccular function
KW - Spatial cognition
KW - Spatial navigation ability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099480442&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85099480442&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10162-020-00780-1
DO - 10.1007/s10162-020-00780-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 33449237
AN - SCOPUS:85099480442
VL - 22
SP - 207
EP - 214
JO - JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology
JF - JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology
SN - 1525-3961
IS - 2
ER -