Reduced Cancer Risk Seen with Statin Use

NEW YORK MAY 15, 2008 (Reuters Health) - High-dose lipophilic statin use is associated with a significant reduction in the incidence of cancer, according to results of a study published in the April issue of the American Journal of Medicine.

Antitumorigenic effects for statins have been proposed, "although original reports had actually suggested the potential opposite, procarcinogenic effects of statins," Dr. Louise Pilote, of McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and colleague write. "Despite massive amounts of data, the issue remains inconclusive."

In a retrospective observational study, the researchers examined the association between lipophilic statin use and cancer occurrence in over 30,000 patients discharged from the hospital after admission for acute MI in the province of Quebec. The team linked the Quebec hospital discharge summary database to the drugs claims database.

The researchers defined high-dose statin use as a filled prescription, within 3 days after hospital discharge, at or above the statin-specific target dose, for any of the lipophilic statin medications (atorvastatin, simvastatin, lovastatin, or fluvastatin). Low-dose statin use was defined as a filled prescription, within 3 days after discharge, below the statin-specific target dose.

Overall, 1099 subjects were hospitalized with a cancer diagnosis during follow-up for up to 7 years.

The overall crude incidence rates of hospitalizations for cancer were 13.9, 17.2, and 20.6 per 1000 person-years among statin high-dose users, low-dose users, and non-users, respectively. The adjusted hazard ratios for high-dose statin use and low-dose statin use were 0.75 and 0.89 versus non-use, respectively.

"This is the first study to suggest a dose-response effect of lipophilic statins on cancer occurrence," Dr. Pilote"s team notes. "Future studies should provide additional evidence allowing the assessment of long-term effects of statins on cancer risk."

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