Reports from animal studies had raised questions about the association of the cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins and the incidence of cataracts. An international research team conducted a large-scale study to determine whether long-term use of statins is associated with an increased risk of cataracts.

Comparing more than 7,400 people who took statins, fibrates, or other lipid-lowering drugs to more than 28,000 control subjects who did not take any of those drugs, they concluded that long-term use of statins at therapeutic doses did not increase the risk of developing cataract. They did find a slight increase in cataracts among people who took simvastatin and the antibiotic erythromycin.

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