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Spontaneous blink rates in children during different types of eye movements
1Children's Hospital University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Insights
Children
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Neuroscience
- Human Physiology
Background:
- Spontaneous blink rate (SBR) varies in humans, increasing in childhood and stabilizing in adulthood.
- Typical adult SBR ranges from 10 to 20 blinks per minute.
- Understanding SBR variations in children during different tasks is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare spontaneous blink rates in children during various visual tasks.
- To investigate how different visual-motor activities influence SBR.
- To establish normative SBR data for pediatric visual tasks.
Main Methods:
- Thirty-nine healthy children (mean age 13.6 years) performed visual tasks including saccades, smooth pursuit, and vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR).
- Tasks involved horizontal and vertical movements, head rotations in light and darkness, and fixation in different gaze directions.
- Participant eye movements were videotaped and analyzed twice to determine SBR.
Main Results:
- Median SBR during fixation was 7 blinks/minute, similar to horizontal saccades and smooth pursuit.
- SBR was significantly lower during vertical smooth pursuit and vertical saccades compared to fixation.
- SBR was significantly higher during VOR tasks (in light and darkness) than during fixation.
Conclusions:
- The median SBR in children during visual fixation was lower than previously reported for rest or quiet conversation.
- Vertical visual tasks, such as smooth pursuit and saccades, resulted in even lower SBR.
- Increased SBR during VOR tasks may be attributed to eye dryness from head movements.
Introduction:
The spontaneous blink rate (SBR) is variable in humans. It increases rapidly during childhood before reaching a plateau in adulthood at 10-20 blinks/minute. Our aim was to compare the SBR during different visual tasks in children.
Methods:
Thirty-nine healthy participants (mean age(SD):13.6(3.5)years, M=21), made horizontal and vertical visually-guided saccades, tracked a horizontal and vertical target, performed horizontal and vertical active sinusoidal head rotations in light and darkness while looking straight ahead (VOR task) or fixated straight ahead and in four directions of gaze. The eyes of each participant were videotaped and reviewed twice to determine the SBR. Parametric and non-parametric tests were used to analyze the data.
Results:
The median SBR during fixation straight ahead was seven blinks/minute, which was similar to the SBR during horizontal saccades and horizontal smooth pursuit tasks. The median SBR during vertical smooth pursuit and vertical saccades were significantly lower than during fixation (p≤0.042). The median SBR during the VOR task in light and horizontal VOR in darkness were significantly higher than during fixation (p=0.019-0.024).
Conclusions:
The median SBR during visual fixation was lower than that reported previously in 5-14 years-old children during rest or 11-20 years-old subjects during quiet conversation. The median SBR was even lower during vertical smooth pursuit and saccades tasks. This may be due to differences in concentration required for visual fixation in general and vertical visual tasks more specifically. The higher SBR during the VOR may be due to drying of the eyes during head shaking.
