Influence of strabismus on the motor skills in children

Abstract Purpose Together with anisometropia and organic causes of visual deprivation, strabismus, if not treated before the age of 7 or earlier, depending on studies, leads to amblyopia and loss of binocularity. In this study, we first examined which parameters of strabismus influenced the motor development in children. Second, we assessed to what extent different motor skills were impacted by strabismus. Methods To this end, we evaluated the motor skills of 40 children between 3 and 12 years old suffering from strabismus using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children – Second Edition (MABC‐2). Results According to MABC‐2, 19 children had no motor disability, and 21 had risk of or significant motor disabilities. As for the first question, results at MABC‐2 were significantly lower for children without compared to those with binocularity (p‐value = 0.002), and significantly lower for participants with binocularity but without stereoscopy in comparison with those with stereoscopy (p‐value = 0.099). However, results did not differ significantly according to the type of strabismus, that is infantile, secondary or acquired strabismus. Differences were not significant either according to the angle of deviation. Regarding our second question, binocularity significantly impacted static balance (p‐value = 0.003) and to a smaller extent dynamic balance (p‐value = 0.05). Performance for catching, but not for shooting, was significantly affected by binocularity (p‐value = 0.042). Conclusions Our study shows that the development of motor skills in children is significantly affected when binocularity and stereoscopy are absent, independently from the type of strabismus. Among the motor skills, static balance and catching are significantly impacted by that absence of binocularity. These results should be confirmed with a larger sample, including older patients, to assess the compensation mechanisms put in place and the actual impact of strabismus on overall motor performance.