To assess test-retest repeatability of the accommodative response (AR) in children with and without amblyopia and adults using the Grand Seiko autorefractor.

Prospective reliability assessment.

Test-retest of accommodation was obtained while participants viewed 20/150 sized letters at 33 cm using the Grand Seiko autorefractor in children 5 to <11 years with amblyopia (n=24) and without amblyopia (n=36), and adults 18 to <35 years (n=34). Bland-Altman 95% limits of agreement (LOA) and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to assess repeatability and reliability. The AR between the fellow and amblyopic eyes of children with amblyopia and eye 1 and eye 2 of the visually normal participants was assessed using group comparisons.

The 95% LOA of the AR was greatest in the amblyopic eyes (–1.25 diopters [D], 1.62 D) of children with amblyopia. The 95% LOA were similar between the fellow eyes (–0.88 D, 0.74 D) of children with amblyopia and both eyes of the children without amblyopia (eye 1: –0.68 D, 0.71 D; eye 2: –0.59 D, 0.70 D) and the adults (eye 1: 95% LOA = –0.49 D, 0.45 D; eye 2: LOA = –0.66 D, 0.67 D). ICCs revealed the Grand Seiko autorefractor as a reliable instrument for measuring AR.

The Grand Seiko autorefractor was more repeatable and reliable when measuring the AR in children and adults without amblyopia than in the amblyopic eye in children with amblyopia. It is recommended that multiple measures of the AR be obtained in amblyopic eyes to improve the precision of measures.