Statins cut risk of nuclear cataracts, study says

CHICAGO - Popular cholesterol-lowering statin drugs can produce the added benefit of cutting the risk of the most common type of cataract, US researchers have said.

Nuclear cataracts cloud the centre of the eye's lens as people age and are believed to be associated with a decline in antioxidants, which prevent chemical damage to the body's cells. Statins are believed to boost antioxidant activity.

Statin users were up to 60 per cent less likely to develop nuclear cataracts when other risk factors were accounted for like smoking and diabetes, according to the study led by Dr Barbara Klein of the University of Wisconsin in Madison and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Cataracts, which afflict about half of people aged 65 to 74, are believed to have a genetic component and can be caused by eye injury or long-term exposure to ultraviolet light, with airline pilots at particular risk. They can usually be removed surgically.

The study had 1299 participants of whom 210 developed nuclear cataracts over a seven-year period. Statin use had no discernible effect on other types of cataracts in the study.

Among the class of statin drugs involved in the study are Pfizer's best-selling Lipitor, Merck's Zocor, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Pravachol.

- REUTERS