Cataract Surgery in Elderly Subjects with Heterozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia in Prolonged Treatment with Statins

Background: Cataracts are the main cause of blindness and represent one fifth of visual problems worldwide. It is still unknown whether prolonged statin treatment favors the development of cataracts. We aimed to ascertain the prevalence of cataract surgery in elderly subjects with genetically diagnosed heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) receiving statin treatment for >= 5 years, and compare this with controls. Methods: This is an observational, multicenter, case-control study from five lipid clinics in Spain. We collected data with the following inclusion criteria: age >= 65 years, LDL cholesterol levels >= 220 mg/dL without lipid-lowering drugs, a pathogenic mutation in a candidate gene for HeFH (LDLR, APOB, or PCSK9) and statin treatment for >= 5 years. Controls were selected from relatives of HeFH patients without hypercholesterolemia. Linear and logistic regressions based on generalized linear models and generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used. Cataract surgery was used as a proxy for cataract development. Results: We analyzed 205 subjects, 112 HeFH, and 93 controls, with a mean age of 71.8 (6.5) and 70.0 (7.3) years, respectively. HeFH subjects presented no difference in clinical characteristics, including smoking, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes mellitus, compared with controls. The mean duration of lipid-lowering treatment in HeFH was 22.5 (8.7) years. Cataract surgery prevalence was not significantly different between cases and controls. The presence of cataracts was associated neither with LDLc nor with the length of the statin therapy. Conclusion: In the present study, HeFH was not a risk factor for cataract surgery and prolonged statin treatment did not favor it either. These findings suggest that statin treatment is not related with cataracts.

Automated summary

This study investigated the prevalence of cataract surgery among elderly patients with genetically diagnosed heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) receiving statin treatment for at least 5 years, finding no significant difference in cataract surgery rates between HeFH patients and controls. Factors related to cataract surgery were not associated with LDL cholesterol levels or the duration of statin therapy, suggesting that statin treatment is not a risk factor for cataracts.