Past observational studies have turned up conflicting findings about the effects, if any, of statins on developing cataracts. Now a large new observational study finds a small but significant increase in cataracts in statin users, however, experts warn that without further support the new finding should probably not influence clinical practice.<\/p>\n
In a paper published in\u00a0JAMA Ophthalmology<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0Jessica Leuschen and colleagues analyzed\u00a0data from a military health care system. In their primary analysis they performed a\u00a0propensity analysis comparing\u00a06,972 propensity-matched pairs of statin users and nonusers. The authors reported a significant 9% increased risk among statin users compared with nonusers (odds ratio 1.09, CI 1.02-1.17). Secondary analyses, and a sensitivity analysis based on duration of statin treatment, appeared to confirm the association.\u00a0The authors said that their study was less likely to reflect bias from health care accessibility and use because of the military setting.<\/p>\n The authors concluded:<\/p>\n The risk for cataract is increased among statin users as compared with nonusers. The risk-benefit ratio of statin use, specifically for primary prevention, should be carefully weighed, and further studies are warranted.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n However, in a comment for\u00a0<\/a>NEJM Journal Watch<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0JoAnne Foody said:<\/p>\n “Data on whether statins increase risk for cataracts remain inconclusive and conflicting. For now clinicians should continue to weigh individual patient … benefits and potential harms in determining whether statins are the right choice for a given patient.”<\/p>\n Another statin expert who wishes to remain anonymous said that even if cataract risk was increased by a small amount, the substantial benefits of statin therapy would continue to outweigh the risks, especially since\u00a0treatment for cataracts is extremely safe and effective.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Past observational studies have turned up conflicting findings about the effects, if any, of statins on developing cataracts. Now a large new observational study finds a small but significant increase in cataracts in statin users, however, experts warn that without further support the new finding should probably not influence clinical practice. In a paper published […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,7],"tags":[1985,584],"class_list":["post-39006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-prevention","tag-cataract","tag-statins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}