Stains increase the risk of age-related macular degeneration by 19%

This study was published in Ophthalmology 2009 Dec;116(12):2381-5

Study title and authors:
Statin use and the incidence of advanced age-related macular degeneration in the Complications of Age-related Macular Degeneration Prevention Trial.

Maguire MG, Ying GS, McCannel CA, Liu C, Dai Y
Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-3309, USA. maguirem@mail.med.upenn.edu

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19850347

The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of statin use on the incidence of advanced age-related macular degeneration among patients with large drusen. The study included 744 patients, aged 50 years or more, who were followed for at least five years. Eligibility criteria for the clinical trial required that the participants have more than ten large drusen and visual acuity no better than 20/40 in each eye.

(Drusen are yellow deposits under the retina. While drusen likely do not cause age-related macular degeneration, their presence increases a person’s risk of developing age-related macular degeneration. In the expression, 20/40 vision, the 20 is the distance in feet between the subject and the chart. The 40 means that the subject can read the chart (from 20 feet away) as well as a normal person could read the same chart from 40 feet away).

The study found that patients taking statins had a 19% increased risk of developing advanced age-related macular degeneration compared to patients not taking statins.