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Researchers found that people taking drugs to lower cholesterol had a 15% reduced risk of developing AMD compared to those who were not taking the drugs.

Meanwhile, people taking medicine to control diabetes appeared to have a 22% lesser risk.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/08/statins-may-prevent-p...

Statins may prevent people from losing eyesight in later life

Scientists also found people prescribed diabetes drugs, such as insulin and anti-inflammatories, had lower risk of developing the condition

Statins and other drugs which lower cholesterol may also prevent people from losing their eyesight in later life, scientists have found.

Experts, led by a team from University Hospital Bonn in Germany, examined 14 studies involving almost 40,000 people from the UK, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal and Russia.

They found that people taking statins were 15 per cent less likely to go on to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Similarly, they found that people prescribed type 2 diabetes drugs - such as insulin and anti-inflammatories - also had a 22 per cent lower risk of AMD.

AMD, which affects more than 1.5 million in Britain, is a progressive disease caused by the accumulation of fatty lipids and protein under the retina - the "camera" at the back of the eye.

The condition usually first affects people in their 50s and 60s and although it does not cause total blindness - affecting just the middle part of vision - it makes it difficult to read and recognise faces.

There are two forms of AMD, known as "wet" and "dry". The "dry" form is the more common of the two, accounting for 85 per cent of cases, and there is currently no treatment.

'Leading cause for severe visual impairment' in high-income countries

Writing in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, Dr Matthias M Mauschitz, of the Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Bonn said: “Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause for severe visual impairment and blindness in high-income countries and particularly affects the population above the age of 55 years.

“Our study indicates an association of systemic use of lipid-lowering drugs and antidiabetic drugs with lower AMD prevalence across several European cohort studies.

“These findings have implications for public health messages, underline the link of AMD with cardiovascular comorbidities and may provide potential future therapeutic targets.”

The exact cause of AMD is unknown, but it has been linked to smoking, high blood pressure, being overweight, and having a family history of the condition, hinting at a genetic component.

Drugs may control build-up of oxidised fats and proteins

Researchers say the drugs may work by controlling the build-up of oxidised fats and proteins in the eye, which can clump together to form a lesion at the centre of the eye, which causes AMD.

As well as lowering fats, the drugs may also have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects which prevent the lesion from forming, scientists believe.

In 2016, a small study by Harvard Medical School found that high-dose statins could actually reverse AMD, by clearing away fatty deposits in the retina.

A trial involving 10 patients with AMD who were given double the usual dose, led to vision improvements for all participants.

Around 17 million people are eligible for statins in Britain.

bjo.bmj.com/content/early/2022/10/12/bjo-2022-321985

Association of lipid-lowering drugs and antidiabetic drugs with age-related macular degeneration: a meta-analysis in Europeans

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Almost 20 million older Americans live with sight-robbing macular degeneration

Within the next six months to a year, there will likely be two new drugs to treat dry AMD, said Maturi, who estimated that about 15 different pharmaceutical companies have AMD drugs in various stages of development.

Helpful changes include quitting smoking, getting regular exercise, maintaining healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and eating healthy foods, especially leafy green vegetables and fish.

Doctors also recommend taking an antioxidant supplement formulated for this purpose that combines vitamin E, zinc, copper, lutein and zeaxanthin.

The findings were published Nov. 3 in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology.

AMD_LADIES_GOLF_2018-6299 by ArcelorMittal Dofasco