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New research · Ophthalmology
Ophthalmology. Retina · 2d
Cohort studyOphthalmology. Retina · 2026

Sustained High-Intensity Lipophilic Statin Use and Risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Target Trial Emulation.

Maria Anna Bantounou, Maria Emfietzoglou, Tiarnán D L Keenan … Demetrios G Vavvas
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OphthalmologyCohort study

Sustained high-intensity statin use was associated with lower risk of nonexudative macular degeneration.

Sustained High-Intensity Lipophilic Statin Use and Risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Target Trial Emulation.

Maria Anna Bantounou … Demetrios G Vavvas
Ophthalmology. Retina · 2026
Purpose

To evaluate whether sustained high-intensity lipophilic statin exposure is associated with reduced risk of incident nonexudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and progression from nonexudative to exudative AMD.

Methods

Data were obtained from the Mass General Brigham database (2005-2025).

n = 8,633 participants
Results

checking or dying eyes: fewer got dry macular degeneration on high-dose statins

sHR 0.53 (95% CI 0.38 to 0.74)
null = 00.380.74
CI excludes the null - significant
More results

In the progression cohort, over 2.1±1.6 years, 66/1,082 high-intensity lipophilic statin-exposed participants (6.10%) and 85/1,082 unexposed participants (7.86%) progressed to exudative AMD (sHR=0.62, 95%-CI, 0.45-0.87; P=0.006; inverse probability of censoring weighting HR=0.61, 95%-CI, 0.43-0.87; P=0.006).

More results

Any statin use was not associated with AMD.

For cataract, the sHR was 1.18 (95%-CI, 1.03-1.34; P=0.015), and the inverse probability of censoring weighting HR was 1.20 (95%-CI, 1.05-1.38; P=0.007).

“
Conclusion · 1 of 2

High-intensity lipophilic statin exposure was associated with lower clinically documented nonexudative AMD and progression to exudative AMD risk, whereas any statin exposure was not.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

These findings support regimen-specific statin effects on AMD risk. Confirmation in prospective studies and randomized trials with retinal outcomes is needed.

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