Neuro-ophthalmic and neuro-otologic evaluation in individuals with motion sickness susceptibility

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Since the physiological background of motion sickness is not entirely clear, it was aimed to examine the physiological differences in groups consisting of individuals susceptible and non-susceptible to motion sickness. METHODS: Sixty subjects [motion sickness (MS) group: 33 female, 3 male; 28.8 ± 8.1 years; control group: 19 female, 5 male; 24.5 ± 4.3 years] were included in the study. Near visual acuity test on the treadmill in the presence of visual stimulation, pattern visual-evoked potentials, oculomo-tor tests, and computerized dynamic posturography were applied. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to determine the parameter that provides the excellent discrimination between the groups. RESULTS: The most effective parameter in differentiating the study groups was determined as dynamic visual acuity with 77.8% sensitivity and 95.8% specificity. Significant differences were found in the vestibular (mean ± standard deviation: 0.63 ± 0.17), visual (0.77 ± 0.18), and composite scores (73.11 ± 11.89) of the patients (P = .000) in posturographic evaluation. In the visual-evoked potential examination, a significant decrease was found in the amplitude values between the P100-N145 waves in the binocular (5.0 ± 2.8, P = .002), right eye (7.6 ± 3.2, P = .009) and left eye (7.9 ± 2.9, P = .016) in the symptomatic patients. In binocular oculomotor evaluation, directional asymmetric findings were obtained. CONCLUSION: It has been shown that the most effective test parameter that distinguishes the MS susceptible and non-susceptible individuals is the dynamic visual acuity value. Based on the results of neuro-physiological tests, it was suggested that a possible visual-vestibular integration disorder in individuals susceptible to motion sickness may affect visual and vestibular performance.