Statins clear cholesterol at the risk of cataract

In the primary analysis of 6,972 matched pairs of statin users and nonusers, those taking the cholesterol-lowering medication had a 9% increased risk of developing cataracts said Dr Ishak Mansi, of the VA North Texas Health System at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, and colleagues in JAMA Ophthalmology. In a secondary subgroup analysis of 33,513 patients (6,113 on statins) who had no comorbidity, based on the Charlson comorbidity index, the use of statins remained significantly associated with cataracts.