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Senior Health & Medicine
Statins Reduce Risk of Glaucoma, Macular
Degeneration, Eye Problems
Cholesterol-lowering
drugs improve circulation in the eye
May 9, 2006 – The increasing numbers of senior
citizens being advised to take cholesterol-lowering medications known as
statins may get an extra benefit. A new study says the drugs also
improve circulation in the eye, potentially reducing the risk of
glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and other eye conditions.
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Statins have previously been shown to relax blood
vessels and reduce the risk of stroke and heart disease, even in
patients without high cholesterol, according to background information
for the article in the May issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology, one
of the JAMA/Archives journals.
The effect of statins on circulation in the retina
has not been studied previously, but researchers have found that
long-term use of statins may reduce the risk of glaucoma, age-related
macular degeneration and other eye conditions. These diseases are
thought to be associated with problems in circulation in the eye.
Taiji Nagaoka, M.D., Ph.D., Asahikawa Medical
College, Japan, and colleagues randomly assigned 12 healthy men (average
age 21 years) to receive either a 20-milligram dose of simvastatin or an
identical placebo each morning for seven days.
The researchers measured
blood flow in the men's retinal arteries and veins at the beginning of
the study, 90 minutes after administering the drug the first day and at
the end of seven days. They also assessed the participants' blood
intraocular pressure, or the pressure within the eyeball. The seven-day
regimen was repeated again 28 days after the first phase of the study
ended.
Among patients taking statins, intraocular pressure
was reduced 90 minutes after taking the medication and at the seven-day
mark. Blood velocity (speed) and blood flow were significantly increased
in patients who had taken statins for seven days, although the size of
the blood vessels did not change.
These findings may have implications for several
eye diseases, the authors write.
For instance, diabetic retinopathy,
which occurs when poorly controlled diabetes damages the eyes and which
can eventually lead to blindness, was recently linked to reduced blood
flow in the eye.
"Although the findings in the present study are
obtained from healthy men whose physiological response to simvastatin
may be different from that of patients with diabetes, the increased
retinal blood flow associated with treatment with simvastatin may be a
potential therapy for diabetic retinopathy," the authors write.
Editor's Note: This study was supported by
Grants-in-Aid for Young Scientists, by the Akiyama Foundation, by the
Jamcon Award and by the Uehara Memorial Foundation.
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