Gender Effect on Motion Sickness Susceptibility

Abstract

The study aimed was to determine whether there was a gender difference in sensitivity to visual stimulation-induced motion sickness (MS). Forty-nine participants (Female: 24, Male: 25) volunteered to join in the study. Participants were exposed to a visual video-recording stimulus to evoke the MS. Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) was administered before, after, and 30 min after the MS stimulation to determine MS symptoms. Participants' self-report was used to identify motion sickness. Postural sway (PS) was measured before and immediately after MS stimulation. 58.3% of the female and 48.0% of the male reported that they had MS, while 41.7% of the female and 52.0% of the male reported that they did not have MS. Gender and MS distributions were not significant (p=0.469). Participants with MS before the stimulation had higher PS than those who declared no MS (p=0.008), but PS was not different after the stimulation (p=0.102). Although there was no difference in the pre-test (p=0.231), men with MS had higher PS than women with MS at the post-test (p=0.013). There was a significant increase in PS of men who declared that they had MS after the stimulation (p=0.012). The pre-test (p=0.899) and post-test (p=0.434) SSQ scores of men and women with MS were not different, while women had higher SSQ scores than men at the post-test 30 (p=0.020). Finally, there was no correlation between gender and rates of MS. In terms of symptom severity, females appear to be more susceptible to MS. PS may be a precursor to MS.