Recently, two studies have claimed that cholesterol lowering drugs, particularly statins, protect against age related maculopathy. 1 2 The end stage of this progressive retinal disorder is the commonest cause of untreatable blindness in elderly people in Western societies, and its prevalence is expected to rise with the ageing of the population. Thus, preventing this disorder would have an enormous public health impact. 3 The above mentioned studies used interview data on drug use and had a low statistical power. We therefore tested the hypothesis that cholesterol lowering drugs protect against age related maculopathy in a large cohort study with cumulative exposure measured.