In a recent finding, there is a possibility that points to how eye drops may help reduce myopia in children.
These days, children as young as 5 have started wearing glasses. Sometimes it can be due to some condition or genetics, sometimes it can be due to excessive strain on the eyes. In the contemporary era, children are well aware of the operation of gadgets and are constantly hooked on them. This has become an increasing problem with young children who are farsighted or nearsighted. But, according to a recent study, there is a possibility of having reached a breakthrough,
According to recent clinical research findings, the first drug therapy to reduce the onset of myopia in children may be on the horizon. The three-year study found that a daily drop in each eye of a low dose of atropine, a drug used to dilate the pupils, was better than placebo at limiting eyeglass prescription changes and inhibiting eye elongation in myopic children. from 6 to 10 years. .
Eye drops may reduce the risk of nearsightedness
That elongation leads to nearsightedness, or nearsightedness, which begins in young children and continues to worsen into adolescence before leveling off in most people. In addition to requiring lifelong vision correction, nearsightedness increases the risk of retinal detachment, macular degeneration, cataracts, and glaucoma later in life, and most corrective lenses do nothing to stop the progression of the vision. myopia.
“The idea of keeping the eyeballs smaller is not just to make people’s glasses thinner, it would also be to keep people’s eyeglasses from becoming visually impaired at age 70,” said study lead author Karla Zadnik, a professor and dean of the Faculty of Optometry. at Ohio State University.
“This is exciting work for the myopia research community, which I have been a part of for 35 years. We have talked about treatment and control for decades,” he said. “And it’s exciting to think that there could be options in the future for millions of children who we know will be nearsighted.”
Results of the CHAMP (Childhood Atropine for Myopia Progression) trial are published today (June 1, 2023) in JAMA Ophthalmology.
What the study says
- Approximately one in three adults worldwide is myopic and the global prevalence of myopia is projected to rise to 50% by 2050.
- Although a federally approved contact lens can slow the progression of nearsightedness, no pharmaceuticals are approved in the United States or Europe to treat nearsightedness.
- This new randomized double-blind phase 3 trial evaluated the safety and efficacy of two low-dose solutions.
- Including a measure of eye growth was a key component of the study because “the field is actually moving toward axial lengthening being as important or more important than spectacle prescription in terms of the most significant outcome,” he said. “If we’re trying to slow down eye growth to avoid poor outcomes for people in their 80s, measuring eye growth directly is really important.”
“The 0.01% story is clearer and more obvious in terms of significantly slowing down both eye growth and resulting in a lower eyeglass prescription,” Zadnik said.
The safety of the medications was evaluated in a larger sample of 573 participants that also included children from 3 to 16 years of age. Both low dose formulations were safe and well tolerated. The most common side effects were sensitivity to light, allergic conjunctivitis, eye irritation, dilated pupils, and blurred vision, although reports of these side effects were rare.
The CHAMP trial was the first low-dose atropine study to include placebo controls over three years and involved a large and diverse population recruited from 26 clinical sites in North America and five countries in Europe. In a second section of the trial, the researchers are evaluating how the eyes respond when the treatment ends.
(With ANI Entries)
Published Date: June 3, 2023 2:11 PM IST
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