Diabetics On Statins At Higher Cataract Risk

Diabetics On Statins At Higher Cataract Risk

Researchers at the University of Waterloo, Ont., Canada, found that diabetic patients on statins have a higher risk of developing cataracts than non diabetic people not taking statins. The study was published in the August issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. Although they believe that more studies are needed to verify these findings, researchers think that these results should warn diabetic patients there is the risk of early appearance of cataract. Furthermore, these results are an incentive to develop other drugs that reduce cholesterol levels without increasing the risk of cataracts.

Cataract

Furthermore, researchers found that diabetes and statin therapy are two independent risk factors in cataracts, although many of diabetic patients take statins to control diabetes. Of the 6,400 surveyed, 452 were diabetic (type 2 diabetes). Of the 452 diabetics, more than half were taking statins (drugs that reduce cholesterol). The researchers analyzed the role of statin therapy and diabetes in causing age-related cataract. Besides diabetes and treatment with statins, other risk factors have been evaluated like smoking, sex, arterial hypertension. Of these, researchers found that both statin therapy and diabetes were associated with an increased risk of developing age-related cataract. According to the results, diabetes was associated with a higher risk compared with cholesterol-lowering treatment (82% versus 57%). It is worth mentioning that the associations differ depending on the type of cataract. For example, the association of diabetes with a particular type of cataract, posterior subcapsular cataract, was not statistically significant.

A complication of diabetes mellitus type 2 (and 1 also) is diabetic retinopathy, which is an important cause of blindness. Diabetic retinopathy usually occurs after a long evolution of diabetes, approximately 20 years after diabetes onset. Cataract occurs as a result of pathological changes that occur in diabetes. It seems that intracellular accumulation of sorbitol leads to lens opacities. Although diabetic cataract can be cured by surgery, studies have shown that diabetic patients have a higher rate of complications after surgery.

Statins (atorvastatin, rosuvastatin, simvastatin, etc.) are drugs that inhibit HMG-CoA reductase, an enzyme with a role in cholesterol synthesis. Statins have been shown effective in reducing cholesterol levels and are used to lower mortality among patients with cardiovascular risk. Statins are effective not only in preventing atherosclerosis but also in plaque regression. The most common side effects of statins are those on the liver and the muscle. There have been reported increased liver enzymes, muscle cramps, rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown).