OculoMotor Assessment Tool: Children Compared with Adults

To provide additional normative data for the OculoMotor Assessment Tool (OMAT) for horizontal and vertical saccades and vergence jumps and to compare the results of children to adults.

Participants with visual acuity of logMAR ≥0.0 (6/6) and Randot stereopsis of at least 250 sec of arc without binocular disorders were recruited. Horizontal and vertical saccades, near point of convergence (NPC), accommodation and vergence jumps were evaluated using the OMAT. Means and standard deviations were reported for all parameters in children and adults.

A total of 52 participants (ages 9-34, mean age 17.5 ± 7.2 years) participated in this study. Statistically significant differences were found for horizontal and vertical saccades with lower mean results in children, aged 9-18 (111.5 ± 20.9 and 112.5 ± 22.7, respectively) compared to adults, aged 19-34 (131.6 ± 23.9 and 126.2 ± 24.2, respectively) (P = 0.002 and 0.04, respectively). The mean of the last 30 seconds of both horizontal and vertical saccades were statistically significantly lower in the children's group (52.5 ± 10.6 and 52.1 ± 11.3, respectively) compared to the adults (63.2 ± 10.2 and 59.3 ± 13.4, respectively) (P = 0.001 and 0.04, respectively). The normative values for horizontal and vertical saccades were 119.6 ± 23.9 and 118.1 ± 24.1 saccades per minute, respectively. NPC break and recovery were 2.3 ± 2.3cm and 3.0 ± 3.3cm, respectively. The vergence jumps assessment was 79.3 ± 21.19 movements per minute.

Normative values for the OMAT test were found in this study for children and adults. Assessment of endurance found children norms significantly lower for horizontal and vertical saccades compared to adults.