Posted on 02/09/2010 4:46:53 PM PST by decimon
Broad new TAU study finds statins cut cataract risk in men almost in half
Statins, a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels, have been successfully fighting heart disease for years. A new study from Tel Aviv University has now found that the same drugs cut the risks of cataracts in men by almost 40%.
"Doctors have known for some time that there is some sort of preventative effect that statins have against cataracts," says Dr. Gabriel Chodick of the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, who led the study. "It seems that they protect the eye from inflammation and ocular nerve cells from a process of oxidization. But ours is the first study to show such a strong association in such a large population."
The study covered over 180,000 patients between the years of 1998 and 2007 and was published in the February 2010 issue of the Annals of Epidemiology.
From the heart to the head
Dr. Chodick and his colleague Dr. Varda Shalev found that men aged 45 to 54 who took the statins daily to lower their cholesterol levels also lowered their chances of developing cataracts by 38%. For women of about the same age, the risk for cataracts was also cut dramatically, by about 18%.
(Excerpt) Read more at aftau.org ...
Ping.
Yeah? Well, I’ve been on statins for probably 20 years and I’m having cataract surgery on Friday.
All the best.
Good luck with the surgery.
If the 38 percent is so then that’s well less than half.
Just another part of the incessant marketing campaign by Big Pharma for their cash cow statins.
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