Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of 0.05% atropine solution for controlling
myopia progression in school-aged children.
Results: This retrospective, case-control study enrolled myopic school-aged children who
had presented at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) from 2001
to 2004. A group of 57 children (30 boys, 27 girls; 6–12 years of age) with regular follow-up
was divided into a subgroup of 21 children (12 boys, 9 girls) who received atropine eyedrops
(0.05%) every evening, and a subgroup of 36 children (18 boys, 18 girls), who remained untreated,
served as controls. The changes in refractive status of 114 eyes in 57 children were
collected and compared for patients treated with 0.05% atropine eyedrop and those without
medical control. The initial spherical equivalent of refractive status range was between –0.5
and –5.5 D. Mean myopia progression for the group of patients treated with 0.05% atropine
eyedrop (n = 21) was –0.28 ± 0.26 D/year, significantly lower than that of the control group
of –0.75 ± 0.35 D/year (36 patients; P < 0.001). The 0.05% atropine group had a significant
lower ratio of uncontrolled myopia, that progressed greater than –0.50 D in 1 year, relative
to the controls (16.7% versus 77.8%; P < 0.001).
Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrate that, with regular instillation, topical
0.05% atropine is an effective agent for controlling myopia progression in a majority of schoolaged
children for at least a period of 1 year.
