Statin drugs not linked to increased cancer risk

The so-called statin drugs that lower cholesterol so well do not lead to a greater risk of developing cancer, a new study indicates.

Certain reports have linked low levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol to higher rates of cancer, and Statins lower LDL cholesterol. Does this mean Statins might raise the risk of cancer? The answer is no, according to a report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

“Our paper published last summer,” Dr. Richard H. Karas told Reuters Health, “showed that lower LDL levels are associated with higher rates of cancer in a large population of statin-treated patients.”

However, “In the current study, we now show that the relationship between lower levels of LDL cholesterol and a higher risk of cancer is present in both statin-treated and similar non-statin treated controls,” Karas explained.

That suggests that “the relationship is not driven by Statins,” said Karas, a researcher with Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

The findings come from an analysis of data from 15 clinical trials of statin therapy. Together, the studies covered the equivalent of 40,000 people followed for 10 years, and the occurrence of nearly 6000 cancers.

While calling the findings reassuring, editorialists Dr. Ori Ben-Yehuda and Dr. Anthony N. DeMaria, from the University of California, San Diego, believe that further studies are needed to fully verify the safety of statin therapy.

Although emphasizing that the cumulative evidence to date does not support a pro-cancer effect for Statins, Karas notes that there are two key questions that need to be addressed in future studies: “Is the association between lower levels of LDL and higher rates of cancer a ‘cause and effect’ relationship?” and “What is the underlying biology that might cause an association between lower levels of LDL and higher risks of cancer?”

SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Cardiology, online August 20, 2008.