Lipid-Lowering, Antidiabetic Drugs Tied to Prevalence of AMD

TUESDAY, Nov. 8, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Lipid-lowering drugs (LLDs) and antidiabetic drugs are associated with lower prevalence of any age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a meta-analysis published online Nov. 7 in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

Matthias M. Mauschitz, M.D., Ph.D., from the University Hospital Bonn in Germany, and colleagues examined the association of commonly used systemic medications with prevalent AMD among 38,694 adults from 14 population- and hospital-based studies from the European Eye Epidemiology consortium.

The mean age ranged from 61.5 ± 7.1 to 82.6 ± 3.8 years between studies, and prevalence varied from 12.1 to 64.5 percent and from 0.5 to 35.5 percent for any and late AMD, respectively. The researchers found that LLDs and antidiabetic drugs were associated with reduced prevalence of any AMD (odds ratios, 0.85 and 0.78, respectively). No association was seen with late AMD or with any other medication.

"Given a potential interference of these drugs with pathophysiological pathways relevant in AMD, this may contribute to a better understanding of AMD etiology. Further longitudinal studies are needed to confirm or refute these associations," the authors write.

One of the studies included in the analyses received financial support from Laboratoires Théa.

Abstract/Full Text