O028 Vestibular ocular motor reflexes in healthy and sleep-disordered individuals

Abstract Introduction Vestibular ocular motor (VOM) functions, particularly antisaccades (moving eyes away from visual stimuli, requiring reflexive response inhibition), are associated with sleepiness and performance in healthy sleepers under rested and sleep deprived conditions. The effect of sleep disorders on antisaccadic function at rested or sleep deprived states is unknown. We compared antisaccadic function in people young adults with healthy sleep (HS) and individuals with sleep disorders (SD) at rested baseline and following extended wakefulness. Methods Following baseline sleep, participants completed a ~ 29-hour extended wakefulness. VOM antisaccades (NeuroFlex®) were assessed 5 times during rested (≤13hrs awake) and sleep deprived (≥17hrs awake) states. Antisaccade measures were mean gaze vergence (difference in left vs right eye gaze direction, important for target focusing), mean gaze latency (delay between stimulus presentation and eyes on target) acquisition error (degrees between eyes and target), and directional accuracy (successful eye tracking direction). Linear mixed models compared groups (HS vs SD) and state (rested vs sleep deprived) and their interaction. Results 84 participants (29 ± 10yrs) completed the protocol. There was a main effect of group (HS vs. SD) for mean vergence (-0.02 vs. 0.97 degrees, F(1,85.95) = 4.29,p=.041) and a main effect of state (rested vs sleep deprived) for mean latency (524.86 vs. 451.67ms, F(1,67.88) = 38.06,p<.001) and directional accuracy (62.78 vs. 71.08 degrees, F(1,69.54) = 28.11,p<.001). No other main or interaction effects were observed. Discussion Antisaccadic function is differentially affected by disordered sleep and sleep loss. However, there is no apparent worsening of function in sleep disordered individuals with sleep loss relative to health sleepers.