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Low-intensity red-light therapy in slowing myopic progression and the rebound effect after its cessation in Chinese children: a randomized controlled trial

  • Pediatrics
  • Published:
Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the effect of low-intensity red-light (LRL) therapy on myopic control and the response after its cessation.

Methods

A prospective clinical trial. One hundred two children aged 6 to 13 with myopia were included in the LRL group (n = 51) and the single-focus spectacles (SFS) group (n = 51). In LRL group, subjects wore SFS and received LRL therapy provided by a laser device that emitted red-light of 635 nm and power of 0.35 ± 0.02 mW. One year after the control trial, LRL therapy was stopped for 3 months. The outcomes mainly included axial length (AL), spherical equivalent refraction (SER), subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT), and accommodative function.

Results

After 12 months of therapy, 46 children in the LRL group and 40 children in the SFS group completed the trial. AL elongation and myopic progression were 0.01 mm (95%CI: − 0.05 to 0.07 mm) and 0.05 D (95%CI: − 0 .08 to 0.19 D) in the LRL group, which were less than 0.39 mm (95%CI: 0.33 to 0.45 mm) and − 0.64 D (95%CI: − 0.78 to − 0.51 D) in the SFS group (p < 0.05). The change of SFCT in the LRL group was greater than that in the SFS group (p < 0.05). Accommodative response and positive relative accommodation in the LRL group were more negative than those in the SFS group (p < 0.05). Forty-two subjects completed the observation of LRL cessation, AL and SER increased by 0.16 mm (95%CI: 0.11 to 0.22 mm) and − 0.20 D (95%CI: − 0.26 to − 0.14 D) during the cessation (p < 0.05), and SFCT returned to baseline (p > 0.05).

Conclusions

LRL is an effective measure for preventing and controlling myopia, and it may also have the ability to improve the accommodative function. There may be a slight myopic rebound after its cessation. The effect of long-term LRL therapy needs to be further explored.

Trial registration

Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: Chinese Clinical Trails registry: ChiCTR2100045250. Registered 9 April 2021; retrospectively registered. http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=124250

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Data availability

Datasets of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the corporation of LONGDA who provided the low-intensity red-light therapy device. Additionally, the authors gratefully acknowledge the ophthalmic technicians who helped conducted this trail at the First People’s Hospital of Xuzhou. Finally, the authors sincerely acknowledge the families and children who participated in this study.

Funding

This study supported by the Xuzhou Medical Leading Talent Training Project (Grant No.XWRCHT20210022) and Development Fund Project of Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University (Grant No.XYFM2020028).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Hongyan Chen and Wei Wang Contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, The First People’s Hospital of Xuzhou, The Affiliated Xuzhou Municipal Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China

    Hongyan Chen, Ya Liao, Wen Zhou, Qin Li & Xiaojuan Wang

  2. Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China

    Hongyan Chen, Ya Liao, Wen Zhou & Xiaojuan Wang

  3. Department of Community and Health Education, School of Public Health, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China

    Wei Wang, Jingjing Wang, Jie Tang & Yifei Pei

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  1. Hongyan Chen
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Contributions

HYC, WW, and XJW conceived the research ideas. HYC, YL, WZ, and QL performed the experiments. JJW, JT, and YFP analyzed the data. HYC, WW, and XJW wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to manuscript revision, and each read and approved of the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaojuan Wang.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate

Our study and protocol conformed to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and were approved by the ethical committee of The First People’s Hospital of Xuzhou (Number: 2020-KY-075).

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All study subjects gave informed consent.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Chen, H., Wang, W., Liao, Y. et al. Low-intensity red-light therapy in slowing myopic progression and the rebound effect after its cessation in Chinese children: a randomized controlled trial. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 261, 575–584 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-022-05794-4

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