PURPOSE: Near work, accommodative inaccuracy and ambient lighting conditions have all been implicated in the development of myopia. However, differences in accommodative responses with age and refractive error under different visual conditions remain unclear. This study explores differences in accommodative ability and refractive error with exposure to differing ambient illumination and visual demands in Malay schoolchildren and adults.
METHODS: Sixty young adults (21-25 years) and 60 schoolchildren (8-12 years) were recruited. Accommodative lag and accommodative fluctuations at far (6 m) and near (25 cm) were measured using the Grand Seiko WAM-5500 open-field autorefractor. The effects of mesopic room illumination on accommodation were also investigated.
RESULTS: Repeated-measures ANOVA indicated that accommodative lag at far and near differed significantly between schoolchildren and young adults [F(1.219, 35.354) = 11.857, p 0.05). Accommodative lag and fluctuations were greater under mesopic room conditions for all ages [all p
* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.