Efficacy, feasibility, and patient acceptance of using low-dose atropine in retarding myopia progression: A general ophthalmologist's perspective

Purpose: Assessing efficacy of atropine 0.01% eye drops in retarding myopia progression in children, the feasibility of its use, and patient acceptance outside institutional practice. Design: Prospective observational hospital-based study was conducted in children who were prescribed aropine 0.01% eye drops to retard the progression of myopia. Methods: Fifty-seven children who showed a documented progression of ≥0.5 diopters (D) of myopia were prescribed atropine 0.01% eyedrops. In those patients who followed up, the mean change in spherical equivalent was assessed using a paired t-test and a pairwise correlation test. Data of those who were lost to follow-up were evaluated. Results: Out of the 57 children 10 opted out of the study and of the remaining 47 children 20 (42.55%) were lost to follow-up. The mean age of the remaining 27 children was 9.04 ± 3.05 years and 48.1% (n = 13) were female. The mean age of dropouts was significantly higher than those who were followed up (P = 0.003). The mean duration of follow-up was 10.8 ± 5.1 months (range 3–23 months). The mean spherical equivalent from baseline to last follow-up was 0.329 by the paired sample t-test (P < 0.001). Twelve (44.4%) of the 27 children showed a progression of myopia despite treatment. Conclusion: Mean change in spherical equivalent in our study is comparable to previous studies with hardly any adverse effects suggesting efficacy of atropine 0.01%; practical hurdles in follow-up and adherence need to be improved with better patient education.