Diabetes and Cholesterol Drugs Tied to Lower Risk of Age-Related Eye Disease
People who take medications to control type 2 diabetes and cholesterol levels may be less likely to develop a common eye disorder known as macular degeneration, a new study suggests.
Regular medication for type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol may have an unexpected benefit — a lower risk for a common age-related eye disease known as macular degeneration.
Some small studies have previously found that certain medications used to lower cholesterol, control diabetes, and reduce inflammation might lower the risk of this eye disease, but results have been mixed. In a new study published November 7 in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, researchers pooled data from 14 European studies with a total of almost 39,000 participants to take a fresh look at the association between medication usage and macular degeneration.
People who took cholesterol-lowering medications were 15 percent less likely to develop age-related macular degeneration, and individuals who used insulin or other medicines to manage type 2 diabetes had a 22 percent lower risk of developing this eye disease, the study found.
“Our study indicates a potential beneficial effect of lipid-lowering drugs and anti-diabetic drug use on the prevalence of age-related macular degeneration across multiple European cohorts in patients who already take these drugs for other reasons,” says the lead study author, Matthias Mauschitz, MD, PhD, of the department of ophthalmology at University Hospital Bonn in Germany.
Researchers didn’t find an association between other types of drugs and macular degeneration risk. They also didn’t find a difference in the risk specifically for advanced cases of the eye disease when people took drugs for type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol.
Some Study Limitations
One limitation of the study is that researchers lacked data on how long people took medications, what doses they took, or what exact drug they used to manage type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol. Researchers also relied on prescription records, which don't always reflect how often people actually take their medicines.
Even so, the findings offer fresh evidence that metabolic processes in the body that play a role in blood sugar and cholesterol levels may also impact the development of age-related macular degeneration, the researchers concluded.
What Is AMD? Risk Factors and Symptoms
Age-related macular degeneration can lead to what’s known as central vision loss, or difficulty focusing on things that are straight ahead. It develops with age when a part of the retina known as the macula gets damaged.
This is the leading cause of vision loss in older adults, according to the National Eye Institute (NEI). While it doesn’t cause complete blindness, it can make it difficult to see faces and manage a wide variety of daily tasks like driving and reading.
The most common risk factors are advanced age, a family history of age-related macular degeneration, smoking, and being Caucasian. Smoking cessation, regular exercise, a healthy diet, and good management of cholesterol and blood pressure can help prevent the condition, according to the NEI.