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Regular use of statins, the widely used cholesterol lowering drugs, may reduce the risk of developing cortical or nuclear cataracts by almost 50 per cent.

In the latest report from the ongoing multicentre Blue Mountain Eye Study, published in the latest American Journal of Ophthalmology (2007, 143: 687-689), researchers led by Dr Jennifer Tan of the University of Sydney followed the progress of 3,654 subjects enrolled for study between 1992 and 1994.

Each was assessed after five and then 10 years for any association between cataract and statin use. For the 1,952 subjects assessed at 10 years, after controlling for age, gender and other risk factors, statin use was found to have a protective effect for any type of cataract with a hazard ratio of 0.52, representing a risk of developing cataract of just over a half.

Hazard ratios for individual cataract types, such as nuclear and cortical, were not significantly different from the non-statin values (at 0.66 and 0.76 respectively) while the value for posterior subcapsular cataract (at 1.47) suggested an increased risk among statin users, although again not statistically significant.

Reduced risk of cataract subtypes seems not to be proved, but the overall risk reduction for all cataracts is 'likely driven by the protective but non-significant associations between statin use and nuclear and cortical cataract', Dr Tan said.

'This relationship needs confirmation and exploration,' she added.

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