Static aspects of accommodation: age and presbyopia

Although the progressive reduction in accommodative amplitude with increased age is well documented, little is known about several other aspects of static or steady-state accommodation to provide a comprehensive assessment of changes related to age and presbyopia. Static components of accommodation (tonic accommodation, depth-of-focus, slope of the stimulus/response function, and accommodative controller gain) were assessed objectively using an infrared (IR) optometer in 30 human subjects aged 21-50 years; depth-of-focus was also determined psychophysically as was accommodative amplitude. Tonic accommodation and the amplitude of accommodation decreased with increased age, whereas the subjective depth-of-focus increased; the other parameters remained unchanged. The decrease in tonic accommodation and amplitude of accommodation was attributed to biomechanical factors, whereas the increase in subjective depth-of-focus was believed to result from increased tolerance to defocus related to the gradual onset of presbyopia. Constancy of the objective depth-of-focus suggested absence of age effects on the neurologic control of reflex accommodation, whereas the lack of systematic change in slope and controller gain provided support for the Hess-Gullstrand theory of accommodation and presbyopia.