Johns Hopkins Health Alert
Statins and Cataract Risk
Can certain medications reduce cataract risk? The answer is “yes,” according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin.
Cataracts form painlessly. The most common symptom of a cataract is cloudy or blurry vision. Everything becomes dimmer, as if seen through glasses that need cleaning. Most often, both eyes are affected with cataracts, though vision is usually worse in one eye than in the other. Other symptoms of cataracts include glare, halos, poor night vision, a perception that colors are faded or that objects are yellowish, and the need for brighter light when reading. In some cases, double vision occurs with cataracts.
Another symptom of cataracts is the need for frequent changes in eyeglass and contact lens prescriptions. These symptoms can develop rapidly (in a matter of months) or almost imperceptibly, over many years.
In the early stages of a nuclear cataract, some people may temporarily have an improvement in vision. For example, a person who previously needed reading glasses for presbyopia is able to read without them. This change, which is referred to as second sight, occurs because the cataract alters the shape of the lens, making it better able to focus on nearby objects. Over time, however, this improvement in vision is lost, and progression of the cataract impairs vision.
Recently an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Volume 295, page 2752 ) reported that statins, normally used to lower cholesterol, may also lower the risk of nuclear cataracts, the most common type of cataract, occurring in the center of the eye lens.
Some animal studies had earlier suggested that statins might actually increase cataract risk. However, subsequent animal studies and a large British health survey found no risk.
Now, in a five-year follow-up of 1,299 people at risk for developing nuclear cataracts within five years, researchers at the University of Wisconsin, analyzing data from the Beaver Dam Eye Study, found that 12.2% of the statin users had developed nuclear cataracts compared with 17.2% of people who did not use statins. After adjusting for factors like diabetes and smoking, which increase nuclear cataract risk, statin users had a 40% lower the risk of developing nuclear cataracts than nonusers.
The investigators believe it may be the antioxidant effects of the statins that protect eyes. Other studies have shown a link between antioxidants and lowered risk of age-related cataracts. Statins, however, did not lower risk of the other two types of cataracts, cortical (affecting the lens cortex, the layer surrounding the nucleus) and posterior subcapsular (affecting the rear of the lens capsule).
Posted in Vision on August 31, 2007
Reviewed September 2011
Medical Disclaimer: This information is not intended to substitute for the advice of a physician. Click here for additional information: Johns Hopkins Health Alerts Disclaimer
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To QED111, If you look in the top right side of this page you will see where it says "Increase text size" Click on the largest A and everything will get bigger. Good luck.
Posted by: debbiedf | September 2, 2007 10:27 PM
That's why I love digital, I can make the material any size I like.
You can also copy the article, put it into your word-processing program, and then select all, and boost the font size as large as you like.
For PDF downloads, you can select a size up to I think it is 800%-I know it is up to 400% larger, anyway, and there is also a "read aloud feature" too which works pretty well, not too tinny sounding.
Hope this helps!
Posted by: Siobhan | February 7, 2008 8:55 AM
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Would it be possible to make the print on your website a bit larger and bolder for those of us that cannot read light print. My 20/50 vision doesn't allow me to read small print s0 I have to get a magnifying glass to read your articles. If you can't make them larger -- can you have a way that we can click on a link that will take us to another window with larger print. To read about cataracts and other vision problems is reather difficult Thank you QED111
Posted by: QED111 | September 1, 2007 4:32 PM