The effect of statin use on lens density as assessed by pentacam hr® lens densitometry in adults

Objective: To investigate the association between statin use and cataract development by using Pentacam HR Scheimpflug camera system. Material and Methods: Total 208 age and sex matched participants were included in this prospective, case-control study. 104 long-term statin users as study group and 104 non-statin users as control group constituted to the study. Lens densitometry measurements were performed with the Pentacam HR® (Oculus, Wetzlar, Germany) from three areas (anterior, nuclear, and posterior). These measurements were compared between the groups.  Results: There were no significant difference at the basic clinical variables (p=0.121, p=0.778). The mean duration of statin use of the study group was 5,4±4,3 years. The mean value of lens densitometry measurement at nuclear area tended to be lower in statin users than controls, but difference was not statistically significant (9.20±1.00 vs 9.35±1.20; p:0.346). However, the mean lens densitometry values at the anterior and posterior areas of statin users were found to be significantly higher than controls (10.44±1.32 vs 9.16±1.09;p<0.001; 7.86±0.49 vs 7.63±0.38; p<0.001,respectively). Conclusion: The current study finds that long-term statin use seems to be associated with an increased risk of cortical cataracts (anterior-posterior) but not incidence of nuclear cataracts.