Myopie-Managementmit niedrig dosiertem Atropin in der klinischen Praxis

Purpose. The aim of the study was to determine the thera­ peutic effect of low­dose atropine for inhibiting myopia pro­ gression in clinical practice outside of controlled clinical trials. Material and Methods. We performed a retrospective analysis on data collected on a regular basis (refraction, axial length) pertaining to 79 children treated with atropine and 100 un­ treated children over an observation period of 12 months. Results. Our findings show that myopia progressed in both groups with highly variable progression rates. A two­way ANOVA for age and atropine effects on axial length growth revealed that axial length growth rates decline with age (p < 0.0001) and that atropine has a significant inhibitory effect on axial length growth (p < 0.0015) independent of age. However, this effect showed only a 0.08 mm inhibition rate per year (28 %) as compared to the average growth rate in the untreated children, meaning that its magnitude is quite small. Furthermore, the effect of atropine on the refractive power was not significant. Conclusion. We found that, in this clinical setting, the effects of atropine were not distinctive and of only minor clinical relevance. The results of this study show that the beneficial effects of a treatment with 0.01% atropine eye drops may not be apparent in every individual case, information that should be communicated to the parents of myopic children and general ophthalmologists. Keywords axial length, children, atropine, myopia, controlling myopia