Effect of Vision Therapy on Accommodation in Myopic Chinese Children

Abstract EN

Introduction.

We evaluated the effectiveness of office-based accommodative/vergence therapy (OBAVT) with home reinforcement to improve accommodative function in myopic children with poor accommodative response.

Methods.

This was a prospective unmasked pilot study.

14 Chinese myopic children aged 8 to 12 years with at least 1 D of lag of accommodation were enrolled.

All subjects received 12 weeks of 60-minute office-based accommodative/vergence therapy (OBAVT) with home reinforcement.

Primary outcome measure was the change in monocular lag of accommodation from baseline visit to 12-week visit measured by Shinnipon open-field autorefractor.

Secondary outcome measures were the changes in accommodative amplitude and monocular accommodative facility.

Results.

All participants completed the study.

The lag of accommodation at baseline visit was 1.29 ± 0.21 D and it was reduced to 0.84 ± 0.19 D at 12-week visit.

This difference (−0.46 ± 0.22 D; 95% confidence interval: −0.33 to −0.58 D) is statistically significant (p<0.0001).

OBAVT also increased the amplitude and facility by 3.66 ± 3.36 D (p=0.0013; 95% confidence interval: 1.72 to 5.60 D) and 10.9 ± 4.8 cpm (p<0.0001; 95% confidence interval: 8.1 to 13.6 cpm), respectively.

Conclusion.

Standardized 12 weeks of OBAVT with home reinforcement is able to significantly reduce monocular lag of accommodation and increase monocular accommodative amplitude and facility.

A randomized clinical trial designed to investigate the effect of vision therapy on myopia progression is warranted.