Eye tracking-based analysis of eye micromovements during a static fixation task in 6- to 13-year-old children who have undergone laser photocoagulation for retinopathy of prematurity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31288/Ukr.j.ophthalmol.202638190Keywords:
retinopathy of prematurity, retina, eye tracking technology, eye movements, saccades, children, laser photocoagulationAbstract
Purpose: To use eye tracking to determine the features of eye micromovements in a gaze fixation test in 6- to 13-year-old children who have undergone retinal laser photocoagulation (LPC) for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).
Methods: A total of 125 children were included. Eye movements were recorded using the EyeLink 1000 Plus® (SR Research Ltd., Ottawa, Canada) eye tracker at a 2000-Hz sampling rate. The participant was asked to fixate gaze on the immovable central stimulus (a round dot-shaped target) for 10 seconds. The eye-tracking experiment was built in SR Research Experiment Builder, and Data Viewer® was used for data processing.
Results: In a static fixation test, statistically significant between-groups differences were found only for two characteristics. There was a significant difference between children that had undergone LPC for ROP and full-term emmetropic controls in average saccade amplitude (2.72 ± 1.63° versus 4.61 ± 2.20°, p < 0.05) and median pupil size (1269 (interquartile range, 1009-1443) versus 1987 (interquartile range, 1713-2325), p < 0.05).
Conclusion: In a static fixation test, average saccade amplitude was 1.7 times smaller (which corresponds to a reduction by 41.0%; p < 0.05) in the group of children that had undergone LPC for ROP compared to full-term emmetropic controls. Additionally, the median pupil size was 1.6 times smaller (which corresponds to a reduction by 36.1%; p < 0.05) in that group compared to controls. These findings indicate long-term changes in the visual system, which may affect fixation control and autonomic regulation.
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