Objective To study the effect of reading distances on the axis and degree of astigmatism.Methods Twenty-five children (50 eyes) with astigmatism greater than 0.50 D were investigated in a cross-sectional study.The children were between 5～7 years of age.They were given corrective glasses based on the results of optometric tests using 1％ atropine.An infrared autorefractor was used to measure the axis and degree of astigmatism for far (5 m) and near (33 cm) reading distances with full-correction spectacles.A t-test and correlation analysis were used for analysis.Results Changes in the degree of astigmatism were 0.35±0.82 D (t=-3.004,P＜0.01) on average for the near reading distance and the change in the extent of the degree of astigmatism showed no correlation with the degree of astigmatism.62％ (31 eyes) had with-the-rule astigmatism with an axis of 1°～57° on average (17±13)° rocating for near reading distances,while 38％ (19 eyes) had against-the-rule astigmatism with an axis of 1°～52° on average (15±14)°.The change in the axis of astigmatism had no correlation with the degree of astigmatism.Conclusion The degree and axis of astigmatism changes with different reading distances in children so we need to think about the change in the axis of astigmatism when prescribing glasses for children.