Minimum detectable change and false positive rates of the vestibular/ocular motor screening (VOMS) tool: an NCAA-DoD care consortium analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective To derive minimum detectable change (MDC) across individual Vestibular-Ocular Motor Screening (VOMS) items and VOMS overall score in 17–25 years old collegiate athletes and to examine false positive rates. Method Participants (n = 378) completed VOMS pre-season for two consecutive years. MDC was identified for individual VOMS symptom items and NPC distance (cm). Both total and change methods of VOMS scoring were included in analysis. Results Regarding total scoring, MDC for ocular VOMS symptom items was 1 and MDC for vestibular VOMS symptoms items was 2. MDC for NPC was 4 cm and for VOMS overall score was 10. Regarding change scoring, MDC for each VOMS symptom item was 1, and for VOMS overall score was 8. False positives ranged from 5.3% to 15.9%. Conclusions This study presents MDCs for each VOMS item and overall VOMS score, using total and change scoring. These values can be considered true change outside measurement error with 95% confidence in a 17–25 year old collegiate athlete population.