Background: While there have been extensive
studies of the amplitude of accommodation (AA)
in adults, estimates of AA from studies in children
between 5 and 10 years of age vary widely with some
of the data being contradictory. Further, since values
of AA are used for the diagnosis of several conditions
including accommodative insufficiency (AI), it is
important to able to compare clinical findings with
age-defined norms.
Methods: The present study was performed on
60 asymptomatic children between 5 and 10 years of
age. Each child was refracted for distance viewing, and
both push-up (PU) and push-down (PD) amplitudes
were recorded monocularly using a Royal Air Force
(RAF) nearpoint rule. Four readings (2 PU and 2 PD)
were taken on each subject. The same procedures were
also carried out on 38 adult subjects between 20 and
50 years of age.
Results: The mean findings (average of PU and
age to 12.4D (SEM=1.4D) at 10 years of age. A twophase regression was observed, with a rapid decline
between 5 and 7 years of age, but minimal change
between 7 and 10 years of age.
Conclusions: Both the pediatric and adult data is
broadly similar to the classic findings of Donders and
Duane. However, a relatively high percentage (36%)
of children met the most commonly adopted criterion
for AI, suggesting that this standard may need to be
reexamined in this particular age group