Susceptibility to motion sickness in children from eight to eleven years of age

ABSTRACT Motion sickness is characterized by intolerance to movement, resulting from a sensory conflict between the visual, proprioceptive and vestibular systems. In the child population, motion sickness is frequent, but the difficult diagnosis ends up underestimating the prevalence in this specific group. Pediatric vestibular changes are of great importance in child development. The objective was to analyze the susceptibility to motion sickness in children and to verify possible associated factors, as well as to identify differences in the responses when compared to sex, age group and parents’ self-perception. This is a cross-sectional study. The consecutive convenience sample consisted of children of both sexes, aged between eight and eleven years old. The motion sickness questionnaire short form (MSSQ) was applied individually with each child. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS Version v.21 (Chicago: SPSS). A significance level of 0,005 was adopted. Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Student’s T, Anova and Friedman’s were the statistical tests used. In total, 223 children were analyzed. 89.7% of the sample was susceptible to motion sickness. There was a significant difference in the comparison of susceptibility to motion sickness between genders, with girls being more susceptible, compared to boys (p=0.001). When comparing age groups, there was no statistical significance. Eleven-year-old children were more susceptible to motion sickness. There was a difference in the responses reported by children and parents about the children’s susceptibility to motion sickness.摘要：晕动病（motion sickness）以运动不耐受为特征，由视觉、本体感觉与前庭系统之间的感觉冲突引发。在儿童群体中，晕动病较为常见，但由于诊断难度较高，该特定群体的患病率往往被低估。儿童前庭改变对儿童发育具有重要意义。本研究旨在分析儿童晕动病易感性，验证可能的相关影响因素，并对比不同性别、年龄组及家长自我感知下的应答差异。本研究为横断面研究。连续便利抽样纳入年龄为8至11岁的男女儿童。研究采用晕动病简化问卷（Motion Sickness Questionnaire Short Form, MSSQ）对每名儿童进行单独施测。统计学分析采用SPSS 21版（芝加哥：SPSS公司），显著性水平设定为0.005，所用统计方法包括柯尔莫哥洛夫-斯米尔诺夫检验、Student t检验、方差分析及弗里德曼检验。本研究共纳入223名儿童进行分析，其中89.7%的样本存在晕动病易感性。性别对比分析显示，晕动病易感性存在显著差异，女孩易感性高于男孩（p=0.001）。年龄组对比未发现统计学显著性差异，但11岁儿童的晕动病易感性更高。儿童与家长报告的儿童晕动病易感性应答存在差异。