CHAMP – Childhood Atropine for Myopia Progression in the UK (CHAMP-UK)
Ophthalmology (Myopia) randomised CTIMP study – open to recruitment

The CHAMP – UK study is a Randomised placebo controlled trial to investigate whether atropine eye drops slows down the progression of a child’s short-sightedness (myopia)?

Short-sightedness, also called myopia makes objects in the distance, such as the television or the whiteboard in school, look blurred. This is caused by the eye growing too long, something that usually happens while children are also getting taller.

We can make people with myopia see better with glasses or contact lenses, but this doesn’t stop their eyes continuing to grow longer and become more short-sighted.

The CHAMP UK study is investigating a type of eye drop called atropine that might help to stop myopia getting worse as you get older. This could mean that your child’s eyesight without glasses could stop getting more blurry and also keep their eyes healthier as they get older. Children in China have successfully been using atropine eye drops to slow the progression of short-sightedness for many years now, but this trial is the first of its kind looking at whether atropine will work for children living in the UK.

The key inclusion criteria is children aged 6-12 years with myopia of -0.5D or greater (spherical equivalent refractive error) in both eyes and good best-corrected distance visual acuity (0.20 logMAR or better) in both eyes.

Once randomized the child will take one drop a day in both eyes for your two years. They will also need to attend the research clinic 5 times during the 2 years.

 

Unicorn-2 – Uveitis in childhood prospective national cohort study
Ophthalmology (Uveitis) observational study – open to recruitment

The Unicorn study is an observational study to collect information about children with uveitis in the UK in order to understand what happens to children with the disease, and why.

Childhood uveitis (inflammation inside the eye) is an uncommon disorder which carries the risk of blindness. Inadequate treatment of active inflammation has been shown to be related to poor outcome.

There are still some unanswered questions about why children get uveitis and why some children with uveitis have worse outcomes than others. By analysing data on a large number of children, we hope to provide information that will help doctors and parents make decisions about their child’s care.

The key inclusion criteria is all children up to the age of 18 and newly diagnosed with uveitis.
If the child wishes to take part in the study, relevant information will be collected from the general clinic appointments. Both parent and child will be asked to complete an annual quality of life questionnaire. This will be sent and completed electronically.