Vestibular and ocular motor baseline concussion assessment in youth athletes.

摘要

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate sex differences on the Vestibular/Ocular Motor Screening (VOMS) and King-Devick (KD) tests among youth athletes. A secondary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between KD test performance and ocular performance on the VOMS assessment in youth athletes. Methods: A total of 468 youth athletes from mid-Michigan youth sport organizations between the ages of 8 and 14 volunteered to participate in the study. All athletes completed the VOMS and KD tests at the beginning of their sport season. Results: Youth female athletes had significantly better performance on the KD test than male youth athletes, but there were no sex differences recorded on the VOMS test. In addition, there was a poor relationship between the KD and VOMS test. Additional information, including a history of concussion and learning disability did not demonstrate any differences on VOMS and KD test performance. Conclusions: Sex differences occurred on the KD, with youth female athletes performing better than male youth athletes; however no sex differences were noted on the VOMS test.