Patching vs Atropine to Treat Amblyopia in Children Aged 7 to 12 Years (original) (raw)
2008, Archives of Ophthalmology
Objective-To compare patching with atropine eye drops in the treatment of moderate amblyopia (20/40-20/100) in children age 7 to 12 years. Methods-In a randomized multi-center clinical trial, 193 children with amblyopia were randomized to weekend atropine or patching 2 hours per day of the sound eye. Main Outcome Measure-Masked assessment of amblyopic eye visual acuity using the EETDRS testing protocol at 17 weeks. Results-At 17 weeks, visual acuity had improved from baseline by an average of 7.6 letters in the atropine group and 8.6 letters in the patching group. The mean difference (patching minus atropine) between groups adjusted for baseline acuity was 1.2 letters (ends of complementary 1-sided 95% confidence intervals for noninferiority =-0.7 and +3.1 letters). Based on the confidence intervals this difference met the pre-specified definition for equivalence (ends of confidence intervals <5 letters). Amblyopic eye visual acuity was 20/25 or better in 15 subjects (17%) in the atropine group and 20 subjects (24%) in the patching group (difference = 7%, 95% confidence interval =-3% to 17%). Conclusions-Treatment with atropine or patching leads to similar degrees of improvement in 7 to 12 year old children with moderate amblyopia. About 1 in 5 achieves 20/25 or better visual acuity in the amblyopic eye. Application to Clinical Practice-Treatment of older children with unilateral amblyopia.
Sign up for access to the world's latest research.
checkGet notified about relevant papers
checkSave papers to use in your research
checkJoin the discussion with peers
checkTrack your impact
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.