Statins may reduce prostate cancer risk

Men who have used 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors to reduce their cholesterol levels may be at less risk of developing prostate cancer, according to a case-control study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Research was conducted at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Portland, Ore, with information about statin use collected from an electronic pharmacy database. One hundred men with prostate cancer and 202 men without the condition were included in the study.

Following adjustment for other potential risk factors, statin use was associated with a significant reduction in prostate cancer risk (odds ratio [OR], 0.38; 95% CI, 0.21–0.69).

Studies investigating statin use and incident cancer risk as the primary outcome have been largely observational and have yielded conflicting results. The authors note that their study differed in several ways. The most notable difference was that 36% of the prostate cancer cases and 49% of controls had been prescribed statins at least once for a minimum of 3 months. In most of the other studies, the prevalence of use had varied only 6% to 10%.

Shannon J, Tewoderos S, Garzotto M et al. Statins and prostate cancer risk: A case-control study. Am J Epidemiol. 2005;162:318–325.