Clinical effect of 0.01% atropine eye drops on myopia progression in school-age children / 中华实验眼科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To evaluate the clinical efficacy of 0.01% atropine eye drops in the control of myopia progression in Chinese children with myopia.Methods:A prospective non-randomized controlled study was performed.The 152 myopic children aged 6 to 14 years were enrolled from June to October in 2016 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, the subjects wore single-vision spectacle lenses (SV) to correct refractive errors and were divided into two groups the eyes in the atropine group ( n=72) were treated with one drop of 0.01% atropine eye drops before sleep; the eyes in the simple SV group ( n=80) only wore SV.Repeated measurements of refractive power and axial length were performed at baseline, 4, 8 and 12 months after treatment.Discomfort symptoms were also observed.Informed consent was provided according to the Declaration of Helsinki.The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. Results:After 12 months of treatment, the progression of myopia in the atropine group was (0.46±0.42)D, which was significantly lower than (0.70±0.42)D in the simple SV group ( t=5.479, P<0.001). The increase of axial length in the atropine group was (0.36±0.21)mm, which was significantly lower than (0.46±0.41)mm in the simple SV group ( t=9.883, P=0.004). The proportions of myopia progressed more than 0.50 D per year were 45%(28/70)and 28%(19/80) in the atropine group and simple SV group, respectively, with a significant difference between the two groups ( χ2=7.582, P=0.035). In the atropine group, photophobia appeared in 16 cases (22.9%), and was gradually relieved.Allergy was observed in 1 case and disappeared after atropine withdrawal. Conclusions:Application of 0.01% atropine eye drops can effectively control the progression of myopia and have few discomfort symptom in Chinese myopic children.