Article

Our aim was to study horizontal and vertical smooth pursuit eye movements in
children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). METHOD: Horizontal and
vertical smooth pursuit eye movements of 91 children were studied using
electro-oculography: 27 children with DCD (23 males, four females), according to
the DSM-IV-TR criteria, and 64 comparison children (26 males, 38 females). All
children were 7 to 12 years old (mean 9y, SD 1.5y). Among the group of children
with DCD, eight had received intervention. Intervention exercised static and
dynamic fixation, saccades, visual strategies, visuospatial abilities, and
eye-hand coordination. A smooth pursuit gain index was calculated and statistical
comparisons were made between the two groups of children. RESULTS: Horizontal
pursuit gain was similar in both populations, but vertical pursuit gain was
significantly impaired (p<0.001, after adjusting for age as covariate), i.e. more
saccadic in children with DCD (18-99%; n=27, mean 51.6%, median 48.5%, SD 23.2%)
than in comparison participants (35-97%; n=63, mean 66.4%, median 65.0%, SD
15.4%). Among the DCD group, the vertical pursuit index was also significantly
higher (p=0.009) in the intervention subgroup (29-99%; n=8, mean 69.4%, median
75.5%, SD 28.7%) than in the non-intervention subgroup (18-74%; n=19, mean 44.1%,
median 42.5%, SD 15.9%). INTERPRETATION: These results suggest a delay in the
maturation of the pursuit system in children with DCD.
CI - (c) 2014 Mac Keith Press.

Langue : ANGLAIS