Association between Brain Functional State Indices and Oculomotor Features in Patients with Anxiety Disorders：a cross-sectional study

Abstract Objective This study systematically characterizes differences in brain functional state and oculomotor performance in anxiety disorder patients and explores their associations using real-world data. Methods A total of 195 patients with anxiety disorders were enrolled from January 2023 to June 2024. Psychological assessments included SAS, SDS, and PSQI. Brain functional indices and oculomotor parameters (prosaccade, antisaccade, smooth-pursuit) were collected. Group comparisons, correlation analyses, and logistic regression models were employed to evaluate contributions and predictive performance of these markers. Results Patients showed significantly lower Brain Inhibition, Stability, and Emptying Indices, and higher Emotion Resistance and Anxiety Tendency Indices. Oculomotor tests revealed prolonged latency and completion time in prosaccade and antisaccade tasks. Significant correlations were found between brain indices and oculomotor performance. The eye-movement-based model achieved superior prediction (AUC = 0.895) compared to brain-function-based models (AUC = 0.621). Conclusion Combined brain functional and oculomotor markers may serve as objective supplementary tools for assessing anxiety disorders, reflecting underlying neural dysregulation.