Characteristics of responders to atropine 0.01% as treatment in Asian myopic children

Abstract Recently, low-concentration atropine (0.01%) has gained increased attention in controlling myopia progression with satisfying effects and minimal side effects. However, studies concerning responders to 0.01% atropine are limited. This retrospective observational cohort study aimed to determine the responder characteristics of 0.01% atropine in Asian children. One hundred forty children (aged between 3 and 15 years) receiving 0.01% atropine were analyzed for the factors influencing annual spherical equivalent changes (SE). The mean age was 9.13 (2.6) years, the mean baseline SE was − 1.56 (1.52) diopters (D), and the mean annual SE change was − 0.52 (0.49) D. A 58.63% responder rate (146/249) of myopic control was achieved with 0.01% atropine in our entire cohort under the criteria of less than 0.5 D of myopic progression annually. The subjects were stratified into 4 subgroups based on a cut-off point of baseline SE of − 1.5 D and baseline age of 9 years. The responder rate differed significantly with the highest being the youngest with the lowest myopia subgroups. Our results demonstrated that children with myopia better than − 1.5 D and younger than 9 years had the highest potential to achieve successful myopic control under 0.01% atropine therapy.