Accommodation in school children with music or sports activities

The accommodation of 324 school children aged 10 to 16 years was studied before and after a 12-minute reading session. One hundred and twenty children (81 girls and 39 boys) were wind instrument players in school bands, 93 children (48 girls and 45 boys) trained in an individual sport, and 111 children (65 girls and 46 boys) having no such activities were studied as a control group. At the end of the reading session, decreased accommodation (7 diopters or less) was found in 19 (15.8%) of the musicians, in six (6.5%) of the athletes, and in six (5.4%) of the control group. The difference was significant between the musicians and the control group, but not significant between the athletes and the control group. The majority of the children with low accommodation were girls; there was only one boy with decreased accommodation in each of the three groups.