Statins don't curb colon cancer risk: study

September 17, 2007

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Statin heart drugs do not appear to lower the risk of colorectal cancer, new research shows.

"Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide, and effective chemoprevention agents would have important implications for public health," Dr. Yana Vinogradova and colleagues from the University of Nottingham, UK, note in a report in the medical journal Gastroenterology.

Laboratory data -- mostly from studies in rodents -- suggest that statins may offer protection against various types of cancer, including colon and breast cancers.

To investigate further, the researchers matched 5,686 "case" patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer between 1995 and 2005, to 24,982 "control" subjects.

They estimated the effects of taking statins, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) such as ibuprofen, COX-2 inhibitors such as Celebrex, and aspirin on colorectal cancer risk.

The investigators considered a patient exposed to a drug if the patient had received at least 1 prescription for that drug in the 13 to 48 months before his or her index date.

Statin use did not appear to curb the risk of colorectal cancer. "No statistically significant trends" were observed for either the duration or the number of statin prescriptions, Vinogradova's team reports.

Mirroring prior studies, the current study showed a significant decrease in colorectal cancer risk with increasing number of NSAID and COX-2 prescriptions.

"Although prolonged NSAID and COX-2 inhibitor use are associated with reduced colorectal cancer risk," the researchers conclude, "prolonged statin use is not."