Effect of 0.01% Atropine on Accommodation in Myopic teenages

Objective: To study the effect of 0.01% atropine on accommodation in myopic teenages. Methods: A prospective non-randomized controlled study was conducted. Sixty-one children (122 eyes) with low to moderate myopia were selected at the Second People's Hospital of Liaocheng from April 2015 to June 2018. Patients (aged 13-16 years old (average age, 14.4±0.9 years) were divided into an atropine group (30 patients, 60 eyes) and a control group (31 patients, 62 eyes) according to the wishes of the guardians. Sodium hyaluronateeye drops were used once in the control group and the atropine group was treated once with 0.01% atropine eye drops. In the atropine group, near vision, accommodative amplitude and accommodative facility were measured at 2 h, 4 h and 6 h after atropine treatment, and the same parameters were measured in the control group at 2 h and 6 h after treatment with sodium hyaluronate eye drops. The data were analyzed by repeated measures analysis of variance and a t-test. Results: The difference in near vision between the two groups and at the same time-points were not statistically significant (F=0.209, P=0.650; F=0.292, P=0.594) and there was no interaction between group and time (F=0.097, P=0.756). The accommodative amplitude of the atropine group was lower than that of the control group at 2 h after treatment and the difference was statistically significant (t=-13.09, P<0.001). The difference at 6 h after the atropine treatment was not statistically significant compared with sodium hyaluronate treatment (t=-0.26, P=0.797). In the atropine group, the accommodative amplitude at 2 h after treatment (10.09±0.69 D) was significantly lower than the baseline value (12.58±0.88 D) (P<0.001). At 4 h after treatment, the accommodative amplitude (10.98±0.77 D) was higher than that 2 h after treatment (P<0.001), and the difference between the baseline value (12.45±0.77 D) and 6 h after treatment was not statistically significant (P=0.911). The difference in accommodative facility between the two groups was not statistically significant at 2 h and 6 h after treatment. The accommodative facility at different time points in the atropine group was not statistically significant (F=0.09, P=0.965). Conclusions: After a single treatment with 0.01% atropine eye drops, the amplitude of accommodation decreases, but sufficient residual accommodation is retained without affecting near vision or accommodative facility. Key words: atropine; childhood; myopia; accommodation