The use of statins, widely prescribed drugs that lower cholesterol levels, has been associated with a reduced risk of developing glaucoma and slower disease progression. This was the finding of a large-scale analysis of medical records conducted by British researchers. The study was published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.
Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness. The condition gradually damages the optic nerve, often due to elevated pressure inside the eye. To assess the possible role of statins, researchers compared two large groups: approximately 210,000 people taking these medications and an equal number who were not taking them.
People taking statins had a 15% lower risk of developing primary open-angle glaucoma. The researchers also separately examined disease progression in more than 30,000 patients taking statins and compared them with 250,000 patients who were not taking the drugs.
Here, the differences were even more pronounced. Over five years, statin use was associated with a 36% lower risk of requiring incisional glaucoma surgery, a 55% lower risk of undergoing a minimally invasive procedure, a 60% lower risk of requiring laser treatment, and a 12% lower likelihood of needing pressure-lowering eye drops.
“Our data show that statin use is associated both with a lower incidence of primary open-angle glaucoma and with a reduced need for treatment escalation,” the authors noted.
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