Cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins could increase the risk of developing cataracts, according to a recent study.
Researchers were not able to prove that the drugs definitively caused the eye condition, but a trial found people who took statins, such as Zocor and Lipitor were about 27 percent more likely to develop cataracts than those who did not, Reuters reported.
"The results were consistent that there was a higher risk of being diagnosed with cataracts among statin users," Dr. Ishak Mansi, the study's senior author from UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Dallas VA Medical Center in Texas, said.
Researchers from the San Antonio Military Medical Center analyzed data from 46,249 patients, 13,000 of which used some brand of statin, the Huffington Post reported.
"Weighing the benefit-risk ratio of statin use, specifically for primary prevention, should be carefully considered," the researchers wrote in the study, the Huffington Post reported.
Statins block a bodily substance that is required in the creation of artery-clogging cholesterol, and the drugs are used by about a quarter of all U.S. adults over the age of 45, so the health benefits are significant, Reuters reported.
On the other hand, cataracts are the leading cause of blindness, and it can cost more than $4 billion annually, the Huffington Post reported.
There have been mixed findings of the link between statin use and vision problems.
"There are a number of small studies, such as this one, that show that statin use can raise risk for cataracts, but much larger studies don't show the same association," John Higgins, MD, Chief of Cardiology at Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital in Houston, said. "There may be some particular people who are at a higher risk for cataracts when it comes to statin, but that's not generally the case."
A study presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress examined data from over two million patients that had been taking statins for about five years and found it actually caused a 50 percent lower risk of cataracts.
