PDF herunterladen
J Am Acad Audiol 2023; 34(01/02): 011-018
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1760437
Research Article

Oculomotor Findings in Videonystagmography across the Lifespan

Elizabeth Tobener
1   Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Knoxville, Tennessee
,
Ashlee Searer
1   Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Knoxville, Tennessee
,
Steven Doettl
1   Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Knoxville, Tennessee
,
Patrick Plyler
1   Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Knoxville, Tennessee
› Institutsangaben
› Weitere Informationen
Auch verfügbar auf
    Lizenzen und Reprints

Abstract

Background When performing oculomotor testing during standard videonystagmography (VNG), the vestibular system is not actively stimulated. Therefore, responses are generated from the cerebellum, brainstem, and oculomotor tract. Many patients seen for vestibular testing fall outside of the standard age norms, making it difficult to determine whether an abnormal finding is due to age or oculomotor dysfunction.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to further evaluate the effect of age on a standard clinical VNG oculomotor test battery consisting of saccades, smooth pursuit, and optokinetic (OPK) testing.

Research Design This is a cross-sectional, between-group prospective study comparing oculomotor tests between age groups.

Study Sample Twenty-one older adults between the ages of 60 and 90 years with no history of central or peripheral vestibular dysfunction were included in the study. Previously collected data from 29 children aged 4 to 6 years and 33 adults aged 20 to 60 years were also included.

Data Collection and Analysis Participants completed oculomotor testing using infrared goggles consisting of saccades, smooth pursuit, and OPK. Statistical analyses were completed using multivariate analysis of variance and analysis of variance and follow-up analysis when indicated.

Results Significant group differences were noted for saccade latency and speed, smooth pursuit gain, and OPK gain and speed. Children and older adults demonstrated longer saccade latencies compared with the controls, and older adults exhibited slower saccade speed than the controls and children. These results also indicated that smooth pursuit gain was reduced for children and older adults compared with controls, and gain decreased across all groups as frequency increased. Analyses of OPK results indicated older adults had reduced gain and speed compared with the children and control group.

Conclusions The findings of prolonged saccade latencies and reduced smooth pursuit gain in both children and older adults suggest possible cerebellar rather than attentional effects. However, other findings such as reduced saccade speed and reduced OPK gain were noted only in the older adults, which suggests oculomotor degeneration and/or insufficient coverage of the visual field during testing, respectively. These results also indicate the importance of age-specific normative data for use in clinical oculomotor testing.

Keywords

vestibular testing - dizziness - vertigo - videonystagmography - oculomotor


Publikationsverlauf

Eingereicht: 26. Juli 2022

Angenommen: 05. Dezember 2022

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
17. September 2024

© 2024. American Academy of Audiology. This article is published by Thieme.

Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.
333 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA

 

  • References

  • 1 Katsanis J, Iacono WG, Harris M. Development of oculomotor functioning in preadolescence, adolescence, and adulthood. Psychophysiology 1998; 35 (01) 64-72
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 2 Yang Q, Bucci MP, Kapoula Z. The latency of saccades, vergence, and combined eye movements in children and in adults. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2002; 43 (09) 2939-2949
    PubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 3 Rütsche A, Baumann A, Jiang X, Mojon DS. Development of visual pursuit in the first 6 years of life. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 2006; 244 (11) 1406-1411
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 4 Fukushima J, Hatta T, Fukushima K. Development of voluntary control of saccadic eye movements. I. Age-related changes in normal children. Brain Dev 2000; 22 (03) 173-180
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 5 Mezzalira R, Neves LC, Maudonnet OAQ, Bilécki MM, Avila FG. Oculomotricity in childhood: is the normal range the same as in adults?. Rev Bras Otorrinolaringol (Engl Ed) 2005; 71 (05) 680-685
    Suche in Google Scholar
  • 6 Doettl SM, Plyler PN, McCaslin DL, Schay NL. Pediatric oculomotor findings during monocular videonystagmography: a developmental study. J Am Acad Audiol 2015; 26 (08) 703-715
    Thieme ConnectPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 7 Doettl SM, Plyler PN, McCaslin DL. Artifact in pediatric oculomotor findings during videonystagmography: a retrospective analysis. J Am Acad Audiol 2017; 28 (04) 314-324
    Thieme ConnectPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 8 Sinno S, Najem F, Abouchacra KS, Perrin P, Dumas G. Normative values of saccades and smooth pursuit in children aged 5 to 17 years. J Am Acad Audiol 2020; 31 (06) 384-392
    Thieme ConnectPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 9 Irving EL, Steinbach MJ, Lillakas L, Babu RJ, Hutchings N. Horizontal saccade dynamics across the human life span. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2006; 47 (06) 2478-2484
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 10 Moschner C, Baloh RW. Age-related changes in visual tracking. J Gerontol 1994; 49 (05) M235-M238
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 11 Hopf S, Liesenfeld M, Schmidtmann I, Ashayer S, Pitz S. Age dependent normative data of vertical and horizontal reflexive saccades. PLoS One 2018; 13 (09) e0204008
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 12 Butler KM, Zacks RT, Henderson JM. Suppression of reflexive saccades in younger and older adults: age comparisons on an antisaccade task. Mem Cognit 1999; 27 (04) 584-591
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 13 Colcombe AM, Kramer AF, Irwin DE, Peterson MS, Colcombe S, Hahn S. Age-related effects of attentional and oculomotor capture by onsets and color singletons as a function of experience. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2003; 113 (02) 205-225
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 14 Carter JE, Obler L, Woodward S, Albert ML. The effect of increasing age on the latency for saccadic eye movements. J Gerontol 1983; 38 (03) 318-320
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 15 Crawford TJ, Smith ES, Berry DM. Eye gaze and aging: selective and combined effects of working memory and inhibitory control. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11: 563
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 16 Kerber KA, Ishiyama GP, Baloh RW. A longitudinal study of oculomotor function in normal older people. Neurobiol Aging 2006; 27 (09) 1346-1353
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 17 Shafiq-Antonacci R, Maruff P, Whyte S, Tyler P, Dudgeon P, Currie J. The effects of age and mood on saccadic function in older individuals. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 1999; 54 (06) 361-368
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 18 Jagacinski RJ, Liao MJ, Fayyad EA. Generalized slowing in sinusoidal tracking by older adults. Psychol Aging 1995; 10 (01) 8-19
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 19 Valmaggia C, Rütsche A, Baumann A. et al. Age related change of optokinetic nystagmus in healthy subjects: a study from infancy to senescence. Br J Ophthalmol 2004; 88 (12) 1577-1581
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 20 Tiemeier H, Lenroot RK, Greenstein DK, Tran L, Pierson R, Giedd JN. Cerebellum development during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal morphometric MRI study. Neuroimage 2010; 49 (01) 63-70
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 21 Enrietto JA, Jacobson KM, Baloh RW. Aging effects on auditory and vestibular responses: a longitudinal study. Am J Otolaryngol 1999; 20 (06) 371-378
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 22 Zhang C, Zhu Q, Hua T. Aging of cerebellar Purkinje cells. Cell Tissue Res 2010; 341 (03) 341-347
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 23 Breckenridge K, Braddick O, Atkinson J. The organization of attention in typical development: a new preschool attention test battery. Br J Dev Psychol 2013; 31 (Pt 3): 271-288
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 24 Hartley AA, Kieley J, McKenzie CRM. Allocation of visual attention in younger and older adults. Percept Psychophys 1992; 52 (02) 175-185
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 25 Groth KE, Allen PA. Visual attention and aging. Front Biosci 2000; 5: D284-D297
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 26 Leigh RJ, Zee DS. The Neurology of Eye Movements. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015
    CrossrefSuche in Google Scholar
  • 27 Broderick P. Pediatric vision screening for the family physician. Am Fam Physician 1998; 58 (03) 691-700 , 703–704
    PubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 28 Tennessee Department of Safety. Driver's License Handbook. Driver Services Division; 2009
    Suche in Google Scholar
  • 29 Corless N, Goggins S. Investigation into the verification of the Synapsys videonystagmography (VNG) Ulmer calibration system. Int J Audiol 2014; 53 (09) 618-624
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 30 Clark RA, Demer JL. Effect of aging on human rectus extraocular muscle paths demonstrated by magnetic resonance imaging. Am J Ophthalmol 2002; 134 (06) 872-878
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 31 McKelvie P, Friling R, Davey K, Kowal L. Changes as the result of ageing in extraocular muscles: a post-mortem study. Aust N Z J Ophthalmol 1999; 27 (06) 420-425
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar
  • 32 Brown A, Corner M, Crewther D, Crewther S. Age related decline in cortical multifocal flash VEP: latency increases shown to be predominately magnocellular. Front Aging Neurosci 2019; 10: 430
    CrossrefPubMedSuche in Google Scholar