Motion Sickness Susceptibility and Baseline Vestibular and Ocular-Motor Performance in Adolescent Athletes

CONTEXT:

High school athletes with a history of motion sickness susceptibility exhibit higher baseline vestibular and ocular-motor scores than those without a history of motion sickness susceptibility.

OBJECTIVE:

To examine the effects of motion sickness susceptibility on baseline vestibular and ocular-motor functioning, neurocognitive performance, and symptom scores.

DESIGN:

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING:

Preseason concussion testing.

PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS:

A convenience sample of high school athletes (N = 308, age = 15.13 ± 1.21 years) involved in a variety of sports.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S):

Vestibular/Ocular Motor Screening, computerized neurocognitive assessment, symptom scale, and Motion Sickness Susceptibility Questionnaire-Short Form (MSSQ-S).

RESULTS:

Participants were categorized into 3 groups based on a median split of the scores (eg, NONE, LOW, and HIGH). The LOW (n = 95) and HIGH (n = 92) groups (ie, MSSQ-S score > 0) were 2.64 times more likely (χ²_{1 257} = 7.94, P = .01, 95% confidence interval = 1.32, 5.26) to have baseline Vestibular/Ocular Motor Screening scores larger than the clinical cutoffs than the NONE group (n = 70). No between-group main effects were present for the NONE (n = 52), LOW (n = 89), and HIGH (n = 90) MSSQ-S groups for verbal (F_2,230 = .09, P = .91, η² = .001) and visual (F_2,230 = .15, P = .86, η² = .001) memory, processing speed (F_2,230 = .78, P = .46, η² = .007), or reaction time (F_2,230 = 2.21, P = .11, η² = .002). The HIGH group exhibited higher total baseline symptom scores than the LOW (U = 3325.50, z = -1.99, P = .05, r =.15) and NONE (U = 1647.50, z = -2.83, P = .005, r = .24) groups.

CONCLUSIONS:

Motion sickness should be considered a preexisting risk factor that might influence specific domains of the baseline concussion assessment and postinjury management.