Oculomotor deficits in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

There is equivocal evidence on the presence of oculomotor deficits among children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which can be an additional challenge in this population, especially with reading-related tasks. This study aimed to review the deficits in the oculomotor parameters among children with ADHD compared with age-matched controls. The review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A search of original research articles on various databases was done using key terms, such as “oculomotor deficit,” “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,” or related terms. We included case-control studies and excluded studies in which children received medications during the test. Twelve original research studies were considered for this review. Ten studies reported data on various types of saccades, two studies reported data on fixation, and one study reported data on pursuit. Among various oculomotor deficits, the forest-plot analysis of an antisaccade task showed that children with ADHD made more direction errors compared to controls. Although independent studies report that ADHD children have poorer performance compared to control populations during oculomotor tasks, there is a lack of evidence to draw a strong conclusion. Children with ADHD are less precise in performing eye movements and need more time to complete the oculomotor tasks than those without ADHD. The overall results provide minimal evidence regarding the presence of various oculomotor deficits in ADHD.

Translated abstract

多动障碍缺陷 (ADHD) 儿童存在动眼神经缺陷的证据尚不明确, 尤其是阅读相关的活动, 对他们来说可能是额外的挑战。本研究旨在回顾与年龄匹配的对照组相比, ADHD儿童动眼神经参数方面的缺陷。该综述是根据系统综述和荟萃分析 (PRISMA) 的指南进行的。我们使用关键词如“动眼神经缺陷”、“注意力多动障碍缺陷”或相关术语对各种数据库中的研究文献进行了搜索 。纳入了病例对照研究, 排除了在试验间接受药物治疗的儿童研究。

本综述纳入了12项原始研究。十项研究报告了各种类型的扫视数据, 两项研究报告的是注视数据, 一项研究报告是追视数据。在各种动眼神经缺陷中, 相反扫视任务的森林图分析表明, 与对照组相比, ADHD儿童出现更多的方向错误。尽管独立研究报告表明ADHD儿童在动眼神经任务中的表现比对照组差, 但缺乏证据得出强有力的结论即ADHD儿童在进行眼球运动时不太精准, 需要比正常儿童花费更多的时间完成动眼神经任务。本研究的结果提供了关于ADHD中存在各种动眼神经缺陷的微弱证据。