Treatment of progressive myopia with 0.01% Atropine in children and adolescents: an Italian 4-year follow-up study.

Purpose: To assess the effectiveness of atropine 0.01% in slowing the progression of myopia in young patients.

Methods: 2,387 patients with progressive myopia (more than -0.50 spherical diopters ‹D› increased in the last year) were enrolled. They received, every evening, one drop of atropine 0.01% in each eye. Refraction was then measured at baseline (T0) and once a year (T1, T2, T3, T4) for a 4-years follow-up period, and compared with a non-treated control group.

Results: A reduction in the myopic progression was observed in the treated group respect to the control one. The average spherical refraction after 4 years increased by 27.06% in the treated group versus 241% of the control one. The difference in spherical increase between the two groups respect to time 0 was appreciable already at the first control, (T1 -T0, -0.21D vs. -1D) and continued to increase for all the 4-years follow-up period (T2-T0, -0.38D vs. -1.91D;T3-T0, -0.52D vs. -2.74D; T4-T0, -0.73D vs. -3.63D, respectively). It was always significant (P<0.01). Compared to the previous year, the average spherical increase was quite stable in the two groups (0.17 vs. 0.87, respectively). No significant tachyphylaxis or adverse effects were observed throughout the examination period.

Conclusions: 0.01% atropine was effective in slowing the progression of myopia in the treated group vs. control one. The clinical effect was noticeable already from the first control, and continued for all the observation period. The results of this study agree with those already reported in literature, and confirm the validity of this treatment.