Evaluation of properties of the Vestibular Disorders Activities of Daily Living Scale (Brazilian version) in an elderly population

BACKGROUND The Vestibular Disorders Activities of Daily Living Scale (VADL) is considered an important subjective assessment to evaluate patients suffering from dizziness and imbalance. Although frequently used, its metric characteristics still require further investigation. OBJECTIVE This paper aims to analyze the psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of the VADL in an elderly population. METHOD The sample comprises patients (≥ 65 years old) with chronic dizziness resulting from vestibular disorders. For discriminant analysis, patients were compared to healthy subjects. All subjects answered the VADL-Brazil by interview. To examine the VADL validity, patients filled out the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) and the ABC scale and were tested on the Dynamic Gait Index (DGI). To evaluate the VADL responsiveness, 20 patients were submitted to rehabilitation. RESULTS Patients (n=140) had a VADL total score of 4.1 ± 1.6 points. Healthy subjects scored significantly less than patients in all the subscales and in the VADL total score. The VADL-Brazil was weakly correlated with the DHI and moderately to the ABC scale and the DGI. Instead of the original 3 subscales, factor analysis resulted in 6 factors. The VADL was capable of detecting changes after rehabilitation, which means that the instrument has responsiveness. CONCLUSIONS This study provided more data about the psychometric properties and usefulness of the VADL-Brazil. The use of such a reliable and valid instrument increases the knowledge about disability in patients with vestibular disorders.