LOS ANGELES: The use of low-dose atropine eyedrops was no better than placebo at slowing myopia progression and elongation of the eye among children treated for two years, according to a new trial funded by the US National Eye Institute (NEI), reported Xinhua.
Identifying an optimal approach for preventing advanced myopia is urgently needed given the escalating prevalence of myopia and the risk of it progressing to advanced myopia, according to the NEI.
By 2030, it is predicted that 39 million people in the US will have myopia. By 2050, that number is expected to grow to 44 million and to 50 per cent of the global population, said the NEI.
The randomised controlled trial aimed to identify an effective way to manage this leading and an increasingly common cause of refractive error, which can cause serious uncorrectable vision loss later in life.
For the trial, 187 children aged five to 12, with low-to-moderate bilateral myopia were randomly assigned to use nightly atropine or placebo eyedrops for two years.
After the treatment period and six months after treatment stopped, there were no significant differences between the groups in terms of changes in the degree of myopia compared with baseline. Nor were there significant differences in axial length within the two groups when compared with baseline measurements.
The trial underscores the need for more research to head off advanced myopia, said the NEI. – BERNAMA-XINHUA
