Saccade amplitudes and fixation durations measured during static and dynamic fixation tasks in children with retinopathy of prematurity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31288/Ukr.j.ophthalmol.202653845Keywords:
retinopathy of prematurity, retina, eye tracking technology, eye movements, saccades, children, laser photocoagulation, myopiaAbstract
Purpose: To compare the distributions of saccade amplitude and fixation duration measured during static and dynamic fixation tasks across five clinical groups of children with and without retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and to assess the effect of excluding blink-related records.
Methods. We analyzed eye movements in five groups of children aged 6–13 years (full-term emmetropic children, full-term myopic children, preterm children without ROP, children after laser photocoagulation for ROP and children after spontaneous regression of ROP). Eye movement records were made using an EyeLink 1000 Plus® at 2000 Hz. Saccade data were available for 119/123 children and fixation data for 113/118 in the static/dynamic fixation tasks. Comparisons accounted for repeated measures in children and were repeated after excluding blink-related records.
Results. In the static fixation task, there were between-group differences in the proportions of saccades with an amplitude of 5–10° (p=0.0028) and ≥5° (p=0.0126). The proportion of 5–10° saccades after Holm correction was higher in full-term emmetropic children (18.9%) than in children after spontaneous regression of ROP (6.8%; p=0.0032) and in full-term myopic children (7.7%; p=0.014). For saccades with amplitude of ≥5°, proportions were 32.8% in full-term emmetropic children, 19.9% after laser photocoagulation and 18.8% after spontaneous regression of ROP; no pairwise comparison remained significant after Holm correction. No difference occurred for <1° (p=0.133). After excluding blink-related records, overall differences in the proportions of saccades with an amplitude of 5–10° and ≥5° persisted (p=0.0033 and p=0.030). In the dynamic fixation task, no significant differences occurred for the proportions of saccades with an amplitude of ≥5° (p=0.701) or fixation duration categories (p=0.060–0.920).
Conclusion. In the static fixation task, between-group differences involved larger saccades and the proportion of 5–10° saccades was higher in full-term emmetropic children than in children after spontaneous regression of ROP and in full-term myopic children. For the proportion of saccades ≥5°, the overall between-group difference was not confirmed in any pair after correction for multiple comparisons. The results need to be adjusted for age; these findings do not establish underlying mechanisms.
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