The results support our hypothesis
that the Brief-BESTest, defined from
items with the highest item-total
correlations, exhibits psychometric
properties comparable or superior to
those of the Mini-BESTest. Although
the original BESTest better identified
people with a neurological diagnosis
compared with either abbreviated
version of the examination, the Brief-
BESTest and Mini-BESTest exhibited
very similar levels of overall accuracy.
The Brief-BESTest offered the
highest sensitivity and overall accuracy
to identify people with and
without MS who reported at least 1
fall in the previous 3 months. In addition,
all 3 versions of the examination
exhibited very high levels of
interrater reliability. Thus, the Brief-
BESTest offers an even more abbreviated
alternative to the Mini-BESTest
with similar or superior psychometric
properties.