Eye movement characteristics and their correlation with cognitive function in cerebral small vessel disease
Fangming Wang1, Xiaoling Zhang1, Xiaotong Zhang1
1Department of Neurology, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China.
Objective:
This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of eye movements and their correlation with cognition in patients with cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD).
Methods:
This was a cross-sectional study enrolling a total of 120 patients with CSVD admitted to Hebei General Hospital from January 2022 to October 2023. The videonystagmography (VNG) was completed, and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was used to evaluate the patients' cognitive function. Patients were stratified into mild (0), moderate (1-2), and severe (3-4) groups based on a 4-point MRI score integrating white matter hyperintensities, lacunar infarcts, enlarged perivascular spaces, and cerebral microbleeds.
Results:
Decreased right saccade accuracy (OR = 0.923, 95% CI: 0.890 ~ 0.959, p < 0.001), decreased left saccade accuracy (OR = 0.938, 95% CI: 0.908 ~ 0.968, p < 0.001), prolonged right saccade latency (OR = 1.015, 95% CI: 1.008 ~ 1.023, p < 0.001), and prolonged left saccade latency (OR = 1.014, 95% CI: 1.007 ~ 1.022, p < 0.001) were independently associated with increased total CSVD burden. Decreased right saccade accuracy (OR = 0.924, 95% CI: 0.876 ~ 0.973, p = 0.004), decreased left saccade accuracy (OR = 0.944, 95% CI: 0.903 ~ 0.988, p = 0.012), decreased right peak velocity (OR = 0.988, 95% CI: 0.978 ~ 0.998, p = 0.030), decreased left peak velocity (OR = 0.986, 95% CI: 0.976 ~ 0.996, p = 0.007) and increased rightward slow-phase velocity values (OR = 4.668, 95% CI: 1.669 ~ 13.066, p = 0.003) were independently associated with cognitive impairment.
Conclusion:
Eye movement characteristics in CSVD patients were significantly correlated with the total MRI load and cognitive function. This provides an important reference value for the early identification and assessment of CSVD severity.
