Change and Recovery of Choroid Thickness after Short-term Application of 1% Atropine Gel and Its Influencing Factors in 6-7-year-old Children

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To investigate the change and recovery of choroid thickness after short-term application of 1% atropine gel and its influencing factors in 6-7-year-old children.

Materials and Methods

71 right eyes of 71 children were enrolled and divided into myopia and control group. 1% atropine gel was administered twice a day for one week and then stopped. Spherical equivalent (SE), accommodative amplitude (AA), keratometry (K), axial length (AL), and choroidal thickness (CT) were obtained at baseline and 1^st, 4^th, and 8^th weeks. CT was measured at subfovea and 1 mm, 2 mm, and 3 mm temporal, superior, nasal, and inferior from the fovea using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.

Results

In both groups, all CTs increased following the change in SE, AA, and AL after administration of 1% atropine for one week. They gradually recovered to baseline levels seven weeks after withdrawal. The change (Δ) in CT at 3 mm superior from the fovea was significantly higher in the myopia group than in the control group. In both groups, ΔCT at subfovea had no significant correlation with SE, AA, and AL, both at baseline and one week. However, ΔCT at subfovea was negatively correlated with ΔAL in the control group.

Conclusions

One-week application of 1% atropine gel may increase CT in 6-7-year-old Chinese children. Meanwhile, the recovery process after withdrawal lasts seven weeks. During the recovery process, the changes in structural parameters (AL, CT) and functional parameters (AA, SE) in both groups occurred synchronously. The SE, AA, and AL at baseline may not predict the extent of atropine’s effect on CT.

KEYWORDS:

• Choroid thickness
• atropine
• change
• recovery
• influencing factors
• children

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Grant 81770953 from National Natural Science Foundation, Grant 2018ZHYL0222 from intelligent medical project of Shanghai, Grant 17411950204 from the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality. Grant 2020YFC2003904 from National Key Research & Development Program, Grant 16CR3032A from Shanghai Shenkang development center project.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research & Development Program, China [2020YFC2003904]; National Natural Science Foundation,China [81770953]; the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality [17411950204]; intelligent medical project of Shanghai [2018ZHYL0222]; Shanghai Shenkang development center project [16CR3032A].