IMPORTANCE Some uncertainty about the clinical value and dosing of atropine for the treatment of myopia in children remains. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy vs the adverse effects of various doses of atropine in the therapy for myopia in children. DATA SOURCES Data were obtained from PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, from inception to April 30, 2016. The reference lists of published reviews and clinicaltrials.gov were searched for additional relevant studies. Key search terms included myopia, refractive errors, and atropine. Only studies published in English were included. STUDY SELECTION Randomized clinical trials and cohort studies that enrolled patients younger than 18 years with myopia who received atropine in at least 1 treatment arm and that reported the annual rate of myopia progression and/or any adverse effects of atropine therapy were included in the analysis. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS Two reviewers independently abstracted the data. Heterogeneity was statistically quantified by Q, H, and I 2 statistics, and a meta-analysis was performed using the random-effects model. The Cochrane Collaboration 6 aspects of bias and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale were used to assess the risk for bias. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was a difference in efficacy and the presence of adverse effects at different doses of atropine vs control conditions. The secondary outcomes included the differences in adverse effects between Asian and white patients. RESULTS Nineteen unique studies involving 3137 unique children were included in the analysis. The weighted mean differences between the atropine and control groups in myopia progression were 0.50 diopters (D) per year (95% CI, 0.24-0.76 D per year) for low-dose atropine, 0.57 D per year (95% CI, 0.43-0.71 D per year) for moderate-dose atropine, and 0.62 D per year (95% CI, 0.45-0.79 D per year) for high-dose atropine (P < .001), which translated to a high effect size (Cohen d, 0.97, 1.76, and 1.94, respectively). All doses of atropine, therefore, were equally beneficial with respect to myopia progression (P = .15). High-dose atropine were associated with more adverse effects, such as the 43.1% incidence of photophobia compared with 6.3% for low-dose atropine and 17.8% for moderate-dose atropine (χ 2 2 = 7.05; P = .03). In addition, differences in the incidence of adverse effects between Asian and white patients were not identified (χ 2 1 = 0.81; P = .37 for photophobia). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This meta-analysis suggests that the efficacy of atropine is dose independent within this range, whereas the adverse effects are dose dependent.

Purpose The aim was to compare the impact of rigid gas‐permeable (RGP) contact lenses on vision‐related quality of life (VR‐QOL) in keratoconic patients with different grades of severity. Methods This comparative study was conducted from December 2012 to September 2013 on 46 patients with bilateral keratoconus. Patients were divided into three groups according to the average of the steep keratometry (K) readings in the two eyes of each patient. Main outcome measures included binocular visual acuity (VA), lens wearing time, the 25‐item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI‐VFQ‐25), foreign body (FB) sensation, comfort and overall satisfaction. Results Patients with severe keratoconus showed significantly reduced wearing time compared with the other two groups (4.8 ± 2.5 hours per day). Regarding the subjective criteria, there was no significant difference on NEI‐VFQ‐25 scores, foreign body sensation, comfort and overall satisfaction between mild and moderate keratoconus groups but scores in the group with severe keratoconus were significantly lower than the other two groups. Binocular VA strongly correlated with NEI‐VFQ‐25 scores; however, NEI‐VFQ‐25 scores had no significant correlations with different disease severities. Conclusions Appropriate correction with RGP lenses contributes to good VR‐QOL for keratoconic patients; however, as the disease progresses to a steep keratometric value of more than 52 dioptres (6.50 mm), RGP lenses did not guarantee a relatively good VR‐QOL. Other lens options with new designs might bring better life quality for these patients with severe keratoconus.

The bilateral frontal gyrus and left lingual visual cortex regulate normal fusion function in human eyes. In infantile esotropia, the left cingulate gyrus, bilateral precuneus, and left angular gyrus visual cortex may compensate for the fusion dysfunction. These insights may help improve the diagnosis and treatment of strabismus.

No abstract

Neural imaging studies have found the connection between strabismus and brain cortex. However, the pathological mechanisms of intermittent exotropia are still not fully understood. In the present study, changes of binocular fusion related cortices in intermittent exotropia were investigated with blood oxygen level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging. Activated cortices induced by fusion stimulus were found to be distributed in several regions such as bilateral middle occipital gyrus, bilateral middle temporal gyrus, left superior parietal lobule and so on. Compared with normal subjects, the increased activation intensity was observed in bilateral superior parietal lobule and inferior parietal lobule in subjects with intermittent exotropia. These findings indicate that binocular fusion involves a complicated brain network including several regions. And cortical activities of bilateral superior parietal lobule and inferior parietal lobule compensate for the binocular fusion dysfunction in intermittent exotropia.