Pittsburgh Impairment Testing Tool for Spina Bifida Can Predict Ambulation and Transfer Ability in Adults With Spina Bifida.
Brad E Dicianno, Elise M Pearson, Matthew Mesoros and 2 others
PMID 38679812WHAT IT FOUND
The Pittsburgh Impairment Testing Tool predicted ambulation and transfer ability with over 80% accuracy in adults with spina bifida.
It outperformed other neurological scales for ambulation. Anatomic level and sensory level were less useful predictors than motor level.
Key findings
01The Pittsburgh Impairment Testing Tool (PITT) was the only scale to demonstrate greater than 80% overall accuracy for predicting both ambulation and transfer ability.
02PITT had 80.3% overall predictive accuracy for ambulation ability, compared to 65.4% for anatomic level and 68.5% for ISNCSCI sensory level.
03No neurological scale was useful in predicting inability to transfer due to the low frequency of this outcome in the sample.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study was retrospective, so some data were missing, including orthopedic history like congenital hip dislocation. Manual muscle testing data spanned 11 years and were collected by different clinicians, which may have reduced reliability. The sample was predominantly Caucasian and non-Latino, limiting generalizability to other populations. The models used only one predictive factor; combining multiple scales might improve accuracy. The low number of patients who could not transfer (14.7%) meant no scale could accurately predict this outcome.
Declared interests
The project was funded by the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The authors reported no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the high accuracy for predicting transfer ability as evidence that PITT can identify patients who cannot transfer. The tool failed to predict inability to transfer because so few patients in the study had this limitation. Use PITT to screen for potential, but verify transfer ability directly.