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Study finds no association between statin use and AMD progression
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Statin use does not appear to have a significant influence on either the incidence or progression of age-related macular degeneration over 5 years, according to a new analysis of data from the Beaver Dam Eye Study.
Ronald Klein, MD, MPH, and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, examined the association between statin use and the 5-year incidence of AMD "at a time when there is significantly higher frequency of statin use than when we previously examined this relationship 5 years ago," the study authors said.
The population-based study included 2,087 patients out of 2,204 initially eligible patients. Researchers had excluded 22 patients due to prevalent exudative AMD and 95 patients because they lacked information on AMD incidence.
Investigators had collected demographic and clinical data between 1998 and 2000 and again between 2003 and 2005, according to the study.
The researchers found, at the 1998 and 2000 examinations, 1,347 non-statin patients and 339 statin-using patients were at risk of early AMD and 1,638 non-statin patients and 429 statin-using patients were at risk of late AMD.
Also, 1,650 non-statin patients and 427 statin-using patients showed progression of AMD when examined between 1998 and 2000, according to the study.
"The unadjusted 5-year incidence of early and late AMD, respectively, was 5.9% and 1.8% in those not using statins and 6.8% and 2.3% in those using statins," the authors said.
However, after controlling for age, gender, smoking status and multivitamin use, the researchers found no association with statin use and the 5-year incidence of either early AMD (P = .55), progression of AMD (P = .51) or late AMD (P = .53), the authors reported.
Serum cholesterol levels, history of cardiovascular disease and use of antioxidant supplements also did not affect the associations, they added.
Despite the findings, the authors noted that further study over a longer period is still needed to better evaluate the association between statins and the incidence of late AMD.
"Though we report no association of statins to incident or progressed AMD, we have relatively limited power to assure that such a relation does not exist, especially for late AMD," they said. "Five or fewer years of use might not be a long enough interval to see a protective effect of statins against AMD."
The study is published in the July issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology.