Cogent Engineering (Dec 2022)
Normative blink reflex data for the EyeStat Device in student athletes
Abstract
The blink reflex presents a promising, objective, neurophysiologic measure for use in sports-related concussion diagnosis and monitoring. The purpose of this study was to describe blink reflex metrics obtained using the EyeStat across various demographic factors in a group of healthy high school and collegiate athletes. Participants were 975 healthy high school and collegiate athletes ages 13–23 who underwent pre-season baseline blink reflex testing with EyeStat from 2018 to 2020. Separate two- and three-way analyses of variance tested the effects of age, sex and race on each blink reflex parameter including latency (ms), differential latency (ms), time under threshold (ln(ms)), oscillations (qty), and excursions (px). Bivariate correlations demonstrated uniformly negligible (|r|<0.2) inter-measure correlations, except between latency and oscillations (r = −0.37). Latency was significantly slower in males versus females (p = 0.001), while latency in 19–21 year olds (college) was faster as compared to 13–15 year olds (high school) (p = 0.008). Differential latency was faster in females versus males (p = 0.033), and Caucasians had faster differential latency values as compared with African Americans (p < 0.0005). The number of oscillations were significantly higher in females versus males (p < 0.0005), and African Americans demonstrating significantly more oscillations as compared to Caucasians (p = 0.006). Excursions were greater in females compared to males (p = 0.003) and Caucasians demonstrated greater excursions as compared to African Americans (p = 0.008). Natural log of time under threshold resulted in significant differences in race, with Caucasians having lower values compared to African Americans (p = 0.026). The current results provide baseline values when applying this new technology to the assessment and monitoring of concussion.
Keywords
