Statins Show No Preventive Effects for Most Common Cancers

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Apr 27 - The results of a new study do not support an association between statin use and the occurrence of 10 different cancer types, including the four most common in the US, lung, breast, colon and prostate cancer.

In vitro studies have show that statin exposure stops the proliferation, survival and migration of cancer cells. Dr. Patricia F. Coogan of Boston University and colleagues therefore hypothesized that statins may have chemopreventive properties in humans.

In a hospital-based, case-control surveillance study, the researchers assessed the association between statin use and several cancers. The results are published in the March issue of Epidemiology.

The researchers collected data from patients between the ages of 40 and 79 years who were admitted to hospitals in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore from 1991 to 2005. Nurses administered questionnaires to collect information on demographics, medication use, reproductive history, and habits such as smoking and alcohol use.

The investigators compared 4913 patients who had any of 10 types of cancer with 3900 controls who were admitted for non-cancer diagnoses. The types of cancers examined were: breast (n = 1185), prostate (n = 1226), colorectal (n = 734), lung (n = 464), bladder (n = 240), leukemia (n = 254), pancreas (n = 220), kidney (n = 226), endometrial cancer (n = 220), along with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 144).

The team conducted logistic regression analyses to estimate odds ratios among regular statin users compared with never-users.

The fully adjusted odds ratios were close to 1.0 for cancer patients and controls for all cancer types. The odds ratios for the four most common cancer sites were 1.2 for breast, 1.2 for prostate, 0.8 for colon, and 0.7 for lung.

"There were enough statin users among the colorectal, lung, breast, and prostate cancer cases for duration analyses," Dr. Coogan's team added. No trends of increasing or decreasing ORs were detected.

They conclude that statins do not appear to have a positive or negative effect on these 10 cancers. However, the researchers recommend that cancer incidence and statin use should continue to be monitored.

Epidemiology 2007;18:213-219.

Source:http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/555808?src=mp