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Statin use may be linked to increased cataract risk
A recent study indicates that patients taking statins have a higher risk of developing cataracts.
Individuals taking statins are at higher risk of developing cataract at an earlier age than those not taking them, according to a study published in the August issue of Optometry and Vision Science, the official journal of the American Academy of Optometry.
"There is an association between statin use and the development of cataract in patients with and without diabetes," one of the study's authors Elizabeth Irving, OD, PhD, professor at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, told Formulary.
The study included 6,397 patients seen at the optometry clinic at the University of Waterloo from 2007 to 2008. Of this group, 452 patients had type 2 diabetes. Statin use and type 2 diabetes were evaluated as possible risk factors for age-related cataracts, controlling for patient gender, smoking, and high blood pressure.
Type 2 diabetes was associated with a higher risk compared with cholesterol-lowering treatment (82% vs 57%). The associations differ depending on the type of cataract. For example, the association of diabetes with a particular type of cataract, posterior subcapsular cataract, was not statistically significant when statin use was controlled for.
A 50% probability of cataract in statin users occurred at age 51.7 years and 54.9 years in patients with type 2 diabetes and without diabetes, respectively. In non-statin users, it was significantly later, at age 55.1 and 57.3 years for patients with type 2 diabetes and without diabetes (P<.001).
"Diabetes, statin use and cataract are all common in the population," Dr Irving said. "There would potentially be benefit to developing cholesterol-lowering drugs for which this association does not exist. There would also appear to be benefits to finding ways of reducing the numbers of persons needing to take these drugs."
Coalition promotes important acetaminophen dosing reminders
November 18th 2014It may come as a surprise that each year Americans catch approximately 1 billion colds, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 20% get the flu. This cold and flu season, 7 in 10 patients will reach for an over-the-counter (OTC) medicine to treat their coughs, stuffy noses, and sniffles. It’s an important time of the year to remind patients to double check their medicine labels so they don’t double up on medicines containing acetaminophen.
Support consumer access to specialty medications through value-based insurance design
June 30th 2014The driving force behind consumer cost-sharing provisions for specialty medications is the acquisition cost and not clinical value. This appears to be true for almost all public and private health plans, says a new report from researchers at the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design (V-BID Center) and the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC).
Management of antipsychotic medication polypharmacy
June 13th 2013Within our healthcare-driven society, the increase in the identification and diagnosis of mental illnesses has led to a proportional increase in the prescribing of psychotropic medications. The prevalence of mental illnesses and subsequent treatment approaches may employ monotherapy as first-line treatment, but in many cases the use of combination of therapy can occur, leading to polypharmacy.1 Polypharmacy can be defined in several ways but it generally recognized as the use of multiple medications by one patient and the most common definition is the concurrent use of five more medications. The presence of polyharmacy has the potential to contribute to non-compliance, drug-drug interactions, medication errors, adverse events, or poor quality of life.
Medical innovation improves outcomes
June 12th 2013I have been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of the pancreas, a disease that’s long been considered not just incurable, but almost impossible to treat-a recalcitrant disease that some practitioners feel has given oncology a bad name. I was told my life would be measured in weeks.
