LEI’s Dr Antony Clark with patient Jessica. Credit: LEI

Results from the first randomised clinical trial of low-concentration atropine for myopia control in Australian children confirmed 0.01% atropine eyedrops are safe, well-tolerated and show a promising myopia-control effect. 

Overall, the study found 0.01% atropine eye drops slow myopia progression by 35% and eye growth by 33%, after 18 months of treatment. 

Drilling down into the different ethnicities, the eye drops were found very effective in children of European descent, slowing down both myopia progression and eye growth by 50% in the first year. In children of mixed Asian-European and other non-Asian descent, the eye drops were even more effective, slowing myopia progression by 59% and eye growth by 96% in the first year. However, the eye drops did not have an effect in children with solely East/South Asian ancestry, suggesting these children may require higher concentrations. 

Interestingly, the eye drops seemed to lose effect between 18 and 24 months of treatment, authors noted. This was likely because some study participants, who were more likely to have faster myopia progression, withdrew from the trial. Thus, the effects of the eye drops may have been underestimated in the study, they concluded. 

The findings were recently presented at the International Myopia Institute in Rotterdam in a session co-chaired by lead author Dr Samantha Sze-Yee Lee from the Lions Eye Institute, and Associate Professor Jason Yam from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who led the low-concentration atropine for myopia progression (LAMP) study. 

The study is published in Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology. For more on atropine and myopia management, see https://www.nzoptics.co.nz/articles/archive/atropine-no-additional-effect-on-axial-length/ and https://www.nzoptics.co.nz/articles/archive/atropine-drop-approved-in-australia/