Vestibular Function in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Systematic Review

This review was performed to investigate the characteristics of vestibular dysfunctions in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). The majority of the included studies reported central and/or peripheral vestibular aberrations in a subset of these children. These alterations may result in symptoms of distorted motor coordination or postural instability, and might explain some of the balance problems observed in this population. However, high-quality studies with an extensive vestibular test battery are required to further characterize the vestibular function in NDDs since current findings are ambiguous and mainly based on evaluation of the horizontal semicircular canals alone. Importantly, since vestibular dysfunctions may result in comparable characteristics as found in NDDs, clinicians should be aware of these similarities when establishing the NDD diagnosis.