Saccadic eye movements in childhood: A pilot study comparing clinical eye tracker software and the NSUCO

J Optom. 2025 Oct-Dec;18(4):100565. doi: 10.1016/j.optom.2025.100565. Epub 2025 Aug 14.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To explore differences in saccadic eye movements between children with oculomotor dysfunction and those in a control group across three age groups, using two assessment methods: the subjective Northeastern State University College of Optometry (NSUCO) Oculomotor test and objective analysis with the Tobii Eye X Eye Tracker (Tobii Eye X, Tobii, Stockholm, Sweden).

METHODS: This study included 31 children (ages 7-13) diagnosed with oculomotor dysfunction and 16 age-matched children in the control group. Participants were divided into three age groups: group 1 (7-8 years), group 2 (9-11 years), and group 3 (12-13 years). Saccadic eye movements were evaluated and compared using two methods: the NSUCO test and the Tobii Eye X eye tracker, along with specialized software analysis (Thomson Software Solutions, Welham Green, UK) RESULTS: Children in the oculomotor dysfunction group obtained significantly lower NSUCO scores (p < 0.001) compared to the control group. Regarding eye tracking analyses, a significantly higher number of hypometric saccades were found in oculomotor dysfunction group (p ≤ 0.044). Additionally, in this group a significantly higher percentage of regressions was observed for a 1-second stimulus presentation interval (p = 0.012). Significant correlations were found between different NSUCO scores and the percentage of regressions, the number of completed saccades and the number of hypometric saccades.

CONCLUSION: The presence of hypometric saccades and regressions appears to be a distinguishing characteristic of children with oculomotor dysfunction, detectable through both objective eye tracking analysis and the subjective NSUCO test, which can be easily implemented in clinical settings.

PMID:40815864 | PMC:PMC12391777 | DOI:10.1016/j.optom.2025.100565