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Virtual reality for assessing stereopsis performance and eye characteristics in Post-COVID, 2023, Mehringer, Hohberger et al

Discussion in 'Long Covid research' started by EndME, Oct 6, 2023.

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  1. EndME

    EndME Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    973
    Virtual reality for assessing stereopsis performance and eye characteristics in Post-COVID

    Abstract
    In 2019, we faced a pandemic due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), with millions of confirmed cases and reported deaths. Even in recovered patients, symptoms can be persistent over weeks, termed Post-COVID. In addition to common symptoms of fatigue, muscle weakness, and cognitive impairments, visual impairments have been reported. Automatic classification of COVID and Post-COVID is researched based on blood samples and radiation-based procedures, among others. However, a symptom-oriented assessment for visual impairments is still missing.

    Thus, we propose a Virtual Reality environment in which stereoscopic stimuli are displayed to test the patient’s stereopsis performance. While performing the visual tasks, the eyes’ gaze and pupil diameter are recorded. We collected data from 15 controls and 20 Post-COVID patients in a study. Therefrom, we extracted features of three main data groups, stereopsis performance, pupil diameter, and gaze behavior, and trained various classifiers. The Random Forest classifier achieved the best result with 71% accuracy.

    The recorded data support the classification result showing worse stereopsis performance and eye movement alterations in Post-COVID. There are limitations in the study design, comprising a small sample size and the use of an eye tracking system.

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-40263-w
     
    EndME, Oct 6, 2023
    #1
    Sean, Hutan, RedFox and 1 other person like this.
  2. Hutan

    Hutan Moderator Staff Member

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    Aotearoa New Zealand
    Bavarian team

    some excerpts:

    Accompanied by the damaged nervous system, altered eye movements26,27 and pupil responses28,29 can occur, potentially leading to reduced stereopsis performance. This highlights the importance of visual performance for Post-COVID.

    We used a Virtual Reality (VR) environment to show the stereoscopic visual stimuli. The stimuli vary in levels of difficulty. Accordingly, we can measure the reaction time and accuracy of responses for each difficulty and compare the results. The pupil diameter and gaze were continuously tracked while the participant responded to the stimuli to measure and evaluate the influence of stereoscopic visual stimuli on these parameters. We trained machine learning models to test the feasibility of classifying Post-COVID. Machine learning models are algorithms that can learn from data without a human having to program their behavior explicitly37. Thus, we provide the collected data and the so-called labels that experts created declaring the data as belonging to a control or a Post-COVID patient.

    Thirty-five subjects were recruited for this pilot study: 20 patients with Post-COVID (age: 29±4 years, gender eight female, 12 male) and 15 controls (age: 25±2 years, gender eight female, seven male).
    Persistency of Post-COVID symptoms was 389.25±189.34 days at recruitment.

    The most common self-reported Post-COVID symptoms in the present cohort were post-exertional malaise (100%), muscular pain (100%), headache (100%), and a Bell Score of 36.50±10.27.
     
    Hutan, Oct 6, 2023
    #2
    alktipping and Sean like this.

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