We thank Dr Soler and associates very much for their interest in our paper.
The axial length data for the progressors (ie, children whose myopia progressed by 0.5 diopter (D) or more in eyes treated with atropine 1% at 1 year) and nonprogressors in our study were summarized as follows:
The progressors had a slightly longer mean axial length (AL) in the atropine-treated eye at baseline compared to nonprogressors (25.16 ± 0.85 mm vs 24.80 ± 0.84 mm, P = .063), which matched higher myopia levels in the progressors than in the nonprogressors (−3.6 ± 1.3 D vs −2.8 ± 1.4 D). The baseline AL in the fellow untreated eye is also slightly longer in the progressors than in the nonprogressors (25.02 ± 0.81 mm vs 24.90 ± 0.83 mm, P = .542).
In progressors, AL increased by 0.07 ± 0.26 mm at 1 year and 0.22 ± 0.40 mm at 2 years in atropine-treated eyes. In contrast, nonprogressors demonstrated a reduction in AL at 1 year (−0.17 ± 0.27 mm) and at 2 years (−0.05 ± 0.30 mm). This corresponded to a difference in AL change of 0.24 mm (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.11–0.37, P < .001) at 1 year and a difference of 0.27 mm (95% CI: 0.11–0.43, P = .001) between the progressor and nonprogressor groups.
In the fellow untreated eye, the increase in AL was also greater in progressors compared to nonprogressors (0.30 ± 0.24 mm vs 0.19 ± 0.32 mm, P = .148) at 1 year. At 2 years, however, this difference was more (0.61 ± 0.34 mm vs 0.35 ± 0.41 mm, P = .015).
In summary, the axial length changes mirrored the changes in spherical equivalent. We hope that this information is sufficient to answer Dr Soler and associates’ enquiries.