Statins reduce cancer death
November 9, 2012
STATINS may reduce the rate of
cancer-related mortality in patients
who use the drug prior to diagnosis,
according to Danish researchers.
The study, published in the New
England of Medicine, looked at
mortality among patients from the
entire Danish population who had
received a diagnosis of cancer
between 1995 and 2007, with
follow-up until December 31, 2009.
The researchers investigated the
question of whether a reduction in
the availability of cholesterol may
limit the cellular proliferation required
for cancer growth and metastasis.
Looking at the data, researchers
found that among patients 40 years
of age or older, 18,721 had used
statins regularly before the cancer
diagnosis and 277,204 had never
used statins.
Of these patients, multivariableadjusted
hazard ratios for statin
users, as compared with patients
who had never used statins, were
0.85 for death from any cause and
0.85 for death from cancer.
Adjusted hazard ratios for death
from any cause according to the
defined daily statin dose (the
assumed average maintenance
dose per day) were 0.82 for a dose
of 0.01 to 0.75, 0.87 for 0.76 to
1.50, and 0.87 for higher than 1.50
defined daily dose per day.
Meanwhile the corresponding
hazard ratios for death from cancer
were 0.83, 0.87, and 0.87.
During the study researchers
noted the reduced cancer mortality
rates amongst statin users for each
of the 13 cancer types, compared
to non-statin users.
“Statin use in patients with cancer
is associated with reduced cancerrelated
mortality,” the researchers said.
“This suggests a need for trials of
statins in patients with cancer,” the
researchers added.
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