Citation

Huppert D, Grill E, Brandt T. J. Neurol. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders, Institute for Clinical Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377, Munich, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00415-019-09333-w

PMID

31087161

Abstract

We conducted two representative, cross-sectional, population-based surveys on the susceptibility to motion sickness (MSS) in childhood: One was targeted at parents with children aged 6 months to 18 years (7569 households approached) and the other at parents with children aged 3 months to 5 years (12,720 households approached). In both surveys 3285 parents provided information on 5041 children. The main findings in the first survey were: 369 children (9.2%) were susceptible to motion sickness with a slight female preponderance, and in the second study 16 (1.2%) were susceptible; first occurrence of motion sickness (MS) below the age of 1 year was exceptionally rare (n = 2); if MS occurred after the age of 1 year it was more severe in the younger children, most pronounced between the age of 6 and 9 years; the frequency of MSS was highest in the range between the age of 4 and 13 years; in postpubertal children and adolescents MSS frequency declined. The course of MSS frequency from infancy to adolescence is an inverse U-shaped curve. It is characterised by three phases which may be related to the visual-vestibular mismatch theory, the major pathophysiological cause of MS. Phase one is a high resistance in the first year of life. In this phase infants may be less subject to visual-vestibular mismatch, because they do not yet use visual cues for self-motion perception. Phase two is a prepubertal peak. This is possibly due to an oversensitivity to a visual-vestibular mismatch, which reflects sensorimotor maturation. Phase three is a postpubertal decline. This can be explained by habituation through repetitive motion stimulation during various kinds of vehicle transportations.

Language: en

Keywords

Car transportation; Children; Epidemiology; Motion sickness susceptibility; Sensory mismatch theory; Ship transportation