Dynamic accommodation and myopia.

Abstract

PURPOSE: Accommodative effort during nearwork is thought to be a causative factor in the development of myopia. It has been proposed that an anomaly in autonomic control may be a precursor to the development of myopia. In the present study the closed-loop accommodation response after variations in fixation period was investigated in emmetropes, early-onset myopes and late-onset myopes to determine characteristics of reflex accommodation for each refractive group. METHODS: Closed-loop accommodation responses were measured in a group of emmetropes (n = 7), early-onset myopes (n = 7), and late-onset myopes (n = 7) by use of a dynamic tracking infrared optometer. A variation in fixation period (10 seconds, 60 seconds, and 180 seconds) before an accommodative step was used to stimulate the accommodation control mechanism differentially. RESULTS: Group results of accommodative response times showed that late-onset myopes were significantly affected by the duration of fixation before the change in stimulus vergence. Accommodative response times after 3 minutes of sustained near vision were significantly longer than those observed for other groups for the near-to-far condition. Reaction time appears to be independent of refractive grouping, prior fixation period, and direction of step change. CONCLUSIONS: Late-onset myopes showed significantly extended accommodation response times after a sustained near vision task that was demonstrable under well-controlled experimental conditions. The extended response times observed in the present study were consistent with previous reports of refractive shifts in late-onset myopes and early-onset myopes and provide a corollary between reflex and adaptive components of the accommodation response. Potential mechanisms are discussed in an attempt to explain the resultant hysteresis under closed-loop viewing conditions.