A screening method for visual attention disabilities in cerebral palsy with periventricular leukomalacia

Patients with periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) have been reported to have a variety of complications; however, whether these involve impaired visual attention disabilities remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the presence or absence and degree of visual attention disabilities in patients with PVL and propose a screening test that would allow anyone to check for visual attention disabilities easily.

The study participants were 14 patients with PVL and seven controls with dyskinetic cerebral palsy. All participants performed three types of visual attention tasks: spatial attention tasks, feature-based attention tasks, and object-based attention tasks. The participants also performed counting tasks to determine how many squares of the same size and color could be counted (up to nine). Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to calculate cutoff values, with disability as the objective variable and the value of the counting task as the explanatory variable.

The results revealed that patients with PVL often had visual attention disabilities, as indicated by a significant reduction in tasks requiring divided attention. Visual attention disabilities could be detected by a score of ≤8 in the square counting task.

These findings suggest that family members and teachers of patients with PVL can easily screen for visual attention disabilities at home and school to improve mobility precautions in patients with this disability.