Accommodative amplitude and subjective symptoms at near in young school children

Purpose: To establish the sufficiency of the ocular accommodation and to characterize accommodative problems and related symptoms among otherwise healthy young school children. Subjects and Methods: Children from a junior level school were invited to participate in an examination of the accommodative function which was then compared to expected age levels. The amplitude of accommodation was examined using Donders’ push-up method. A questionnaire containing four different questions linked to four different subjective symptoms (headache, asthenopia, floating text, facility problems) was also used. Results: The results showed lower amplitudes than expected in a large group of children and not equivalent to the expected age values. More than one third of the children reported subjective symptoms at near. The incidence of subjective symptoms emerged at the age of 7.5 years and there was significant relationship between low amplitude and subjective symptoms. Conclusions: Accommodation is not as sufficient in young children as expected. Subjective symptoms emerge at the age of 7.5 years and there is a clear relation between accommodative parameters and these subjective symptoms. Clear standards for diagnosing an accommodative dysfunction need to be further refined Because accommodative dysfunctions may result in subjective symptoms, it is of great importance to identify this dysfunction to prevent unnecessary near vision problems.