Relation between clinically measured tonic accommodation and refractive status in 6- to 14-year-old children

Previous studies have shown a relation between refractive status and tonic accommodation (TA), with corrected hyperopes displaying a significantly higher TA than corrected myopes. TA measurements in those studies were made on adult subjects, under laboratory conditions with an infrared or laser optometer. The study reported here used a different measurement method and younger subjects. The TA of 113 (19 hyperopic, 61 emmetropic, 33 myopic) children, ages 6 to 14 years, was measured by a clinical method described earlier. Analysis of variance indicated significant (p less than 0.25) between-group mean differences similar to the adult-subject data cited above. Clinical implications of the data and the measurement method are discussed.