Could statins treat common cause of vision loss?

ConclusionThe difference between the dramatic improvement seen in the case study of the 63-year-old man and the comparatively modest, or lack of, effect seen in the 23 taking part in the trial shows the limitations of studying small numbers of people, and the current uncertainly about the effects of this treatment. There is large variability in small groups, which doesn't tell us whether the treatment will help most people. The way to solve this is to study lots more people. This helps to smooth out the natural variability in people's responses to the same treatment and can highlight groups more or less likely to benefit. These groups can be studied further to figure out why the variation exists and potentially discover other ways to help more people benefit.Other limitations include that this study was very small, treatment was not randomised, there was no treatment concealment (blinding), there was no control group, and the visual improvements reported between treatment responders and non-responders might have been due to chance.The study also focused on people with dry AMD with a high number of large soft drusen deposits, which is a sub-group people with dry AMD. These are all limitations, but understandable ones given the very early stage of this research. As AMD is so variable, the researchers point out that it's unlikely that statins would be effective for everyone with the condition.The good news is that there were some signs statins improved vision in dry AMD. However...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Older people Medication Source Type: news