Accommodation Functions: Co-dependency and Relationship to Refractive Error

We assessed the extent to which different accommodative functions are correlated and whether accommodative functions predict the refractive error or the progression of myopia over a 12 month period in 64 young adults (30 myopes and 34 non-myopes). The functions were: amplitude of accommodation; monocular and binocular accommodative facility (6 m and 40 cm); monocular and binocular accommodative response to target distance; AC/A and CA/C ratios, tonic accommodation (dark focus and pinhole), accommodative hysteresis, and nearwork-induced transient myopia. Within groups of related accommodative functions (such as facility measures or open-loop measures) measurements on individuals were generally significantly correlated, however correlations between functions from different groups were generally not significant. Although accommodative amplitude and pinhole (open loop) accommodation were significantly different in myopes than in non-myopes, these functions were unrelated to myopia progression. Facility of accommodation and accommodative lag was independent predictors of myopia progression.