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Myopic children show insufficient accommodative response to blur
1Massachusetts Institute of Technology Infant Vision Laboratory, Cambridge 02139.
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science
|March 1, 1993
Summary
Myopic children show reduced accommodative response, indicating that blur is an ineffective stimulus for accommodation in this group. This impacts their ability to focus on near targets.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Pediatric Optometry
- Vision Science
Background:
- Accommodation is crucial for clear vision, especially at near distances.
- Understanding the accommodative response function is key to diagnosing and managing refractive errors.
- Myopia, or nearsightedness, affects a significant portion of the pediatric population.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between the accommodative response function slope and refractive error in children.
- To determine how myopic children accommodate compared to emmetropic children.
Main Methods:
- Accommodative responses were measured using an autorefractor in children.
- Subjects viewed targets at various distances (4.0 to 0.25 m) while wearing their best subjective refraction.
- Stimuli included negative lenses to induce blur and positive lenses to require accommodation relaxation.
Main Results:
- Myopic children demonstrated significantly less accommodation for near targets compared to emmetropic children.
- Myopic children showed shallower slopes in their accommodative response functions when viewing targets through negative lenses, indicating poor use of blur.
- No significant difference in accommodative response function slope was observed between myopic and emmetropic children when using positive lenses.
Conclusions:
- Blur is not an effective stimulus for triggering accommodation in myopic children.
- The findings suggest a potential mechanism contributing to the progression or maintenance of myopia in children.