B3976 - Is the Bike Drawing test a useful indicator of brain-related visual function in ALSPAC participants - 31/01/2022

B number: 
B3976
Principal applicant name: 
Cathy Williams | University of Bristol (United Kingdom)
Co-applicants: 
Harry Adams
Title of project: 
Is the Bike Drawing test a useful indicator of brain-related visual function in ALSPAC participants
Proposal summary: 

I am PI for an exsting project (B3770) which uses ALSPAC data to explore whether a seletion of candidate genes (known to influence the brain's ability to respond to injury) are related to the presence or absence of brain-related vision problems.

In this add-on project, a medical student will examine some additional data from ALSPAC, to see whether the results of a task (the Bike Drawing task; BD) the ALSPAC children carried out at age 11 are in agreement with the results of the brain-related vision tests already requested and in use in B3770. The BD task is an adaptation (for ALSPAC) of a standard neuropsychology assesment called the Rey Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT), which assesses visuoconstructive skills and visual memory. This project will therefore be a learning exercise for the student and will provide useful preliminary data as to whether the BD task may be useful in clinical paediatric ophthalmology practice.

Impact of research: 
This project will provide the medical student with a good introduction to basic epidemiological and statistcal concepts, using a world-famous resource and the opportunity to submit a paper to a scientific journal. The results will indicate whether this BD task may have a place in clinical practice as an indicator of brain-related visual function as applied to a practical task. This will be of interest to clinical and patient groupd that are interested in cerebral visual impairment (CVI).
Date proposal received: 
Wednesday, 19 January, 2022
Date proposal approved: 
Monday, 31 January, 2022
Keywords: 
Epidemiology, Cognitive impairment, Learning difficulty, Pregnancy - e.g. reproductive health, postnatal depression, birth outcomes, etc., Visual impairment, Statistical methods, Methods - e.g. cross cohort analysis, data mining, mendelian randomisation, etc.