title: The effectiveness of 0.5% atropine in controlling high myopia in children.
abstract: Twenty highly myopic children (> or = -6.0 D) were treated with 0.5% atropine eyedrops once per night. Twelve subjects were initially treated with a short-acting cycloplegic agent, tropicamide (0.5%) (Group A), and the other eight subjects did not receive any myopic therapy before atropine (Group B). These cases were followed for up to five years. In Group A, the mean myopic progression rate after 0.5% atropine treatment was -0.01 +/- 0.04 D/M (Diopter/Month), which was significantly lower than that of the period during tropicamide treatment (-0.12 +/- 0.09 D/M) (p < 0.05). In Group B, the mean myopic progression rate after atropine therapy was begun was -0.04 +/- 0.06 D/M, which was also significantly slower than that of non-medication, -0.14 +/- 0.07 D/M (p < 0.05). The results suggested that 0.5% atropine is effective for slowing down myopic progression, even in highly myopic children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Republic of China.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Y F
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000287:Administration, Topical; D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001285:Atropine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009184:Mydriatics / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009216:Myopia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014331:Tropicamide / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D009184:Mydriatics; D001285:Atropine; D014331:Tropicamide