Retarding Progression of Myopia with Seasonal Modification of Topical Atropine

Purpose: to investigate whether seasonal modification in the concentration of atropinedrops is effective in retarding the progression of myopia.methods: two hundred and forty eyes of 120 healthy preschool- and school-agechildren in chiayi region, taiwan were recruited. the treatment group consistedof 126 eyes of 63 children who received atropine eye drops daily for one year andthe control group included 114 eyes of 57 children who received nothing. theconcentration of atropine eye drops was modified by seasonal variation as follows:0.1% for summer, 0.25% for spring and fall, and 0.5% for winter. refractive error,visual acuity, intraocular pressure (iop), and axial length were evaluated before andafter intervention.results: mean age was 9.1±2.8 years in the atropine group versus 9.3±2.8 years incontrols (p=0.88). mean spherical equivalent, refractive error and astigmatism were-1.90±1.66 diopters (d) and -0.50±0.59 d in the atropine group; corresponding valuesin the control group were -2.09±1.67 d (p=0.97) and -0.55±0.60 d (p=0.85), respectively.after one year, mean progression of myopia was 0.28±0.75 d in the atropine groupvs 1.23±0.44 d in controls (p<0.001). myopic progression was significantly correlatedwith an increase in axial length in both atropine (r=0.297, p=0.001) and control(r=0.348, p<0.001) groups. no correlation was observed between myopic progressionand iop in either study group.conclusion: modifying the concentration of atropine drops based on seasonalvariation, seems to be effective and tolerable for retarding myopic progression inpreschool- to school-age children.