Statin Use After Prostate Cancer Diagnosis Lowers Risk of Death

Categories: Winter 2017
A Danish study found that men who took statins after being diagnosed with prostate cancer had a 17% lower risk of dying from the disease.
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We need to accelerate toward using validated scientific evidence to determine the best way to care for patients. ©Dan Oldfield

The study included 31,790 patients diagnosed with prostate cancer. During a median follow-up of nearly 3 years, 7,365 of the men died of prostate cancer and 11,811 died from other causes.

Statin use was defined as having two or more prescriptions of statins after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. Statin use after prostate cancer diagnosis was also associated with a 19% lower risk of dying from any cause. The study did not find any significant association between the type or dose of statin and characteristics of cancer, such as clinical stage or Gleason score. However, patients who were diagnosed early in the study period or who had radical prostatectomy or endocrine therapy saw a slightly higher benefit with post-diagnostic statin use when compared to the total study group.

Further study is needed to assess whether the association found in this and similar studies is causal.

 

J Clin Oncol. 2017 Oct 10;35(29):3290-3297. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2016.71.8981. Epub 2017 Aug 14.

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