Statin use did not reduce colon cancer in postmenopausal women

9th Annual AACR Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference

PHILADELPHIA — A prospective analysis of the Women's Health Initiative showed that statins had no chemopreventive effect for women aged 50 to 79 years.

Michael S. Simon, MD, professor of oncology at Wayne State University’s Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, in Detroit, presented the results during the Ninth Annual AACR Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research. Researchers sought to confirm results from earlier case-control studies showing a moderate reduction in colorectal cancer risk associated with 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A inhibitors. Simon said, however, that there was no correlation between reduction in colon cancer risk and type of statin used, statin potency or use of other lipid-lowering medications.

“While biologically plausible, there was no significant reduction in risk for colorectal cancer among users of statins among postmenopausal women in the Women’s Health Initiative cohort,” Simon said.

The study included 159,219 women who participated in the Women’s Health Initiative. Participants were asked to bring all current medications to their screening interviews, and information on statin use and other lipid-lowering medications was entered into a database. That information was updated at 1 year and at 3 years.

Researchers collected further information on colorectal cancer risk factors through both patient-administered and staff-administered questionnaires.

Simon said 7.6% of women in the cohort reported using statins.

At an average follow-up of 10.7 years, 2,000 patients had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The annualized rate of colorectal cancer was 0.13% among statin users and 0.12% among nonusers (HR=0.99; 95% CI, 0.83-1.20).

Researchers did not observe a reduction in risk for colorectal cancer by duration of statin use whether patients used the drugs for less than 1 year (HR= 0.91; 95% CI, 0.66-1.27), 1 to 3 years (HR=1.28; 95% CI, 0.97-1.68) or more than 3 years (HR=0.79; 95% CI, 0.56-1.11).

Additionally, there was no relationship between statin use and tumor location or clinical features. – by Jason Harris

For more information:

Simon MS. #A59. Prospective analysis of the association between use of statins or other lipid-lowering agents and colorectal cancer risk. Presented at: the Ninth Annual AACR Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference; Nov. 7-10, 2010; Philadelphia.

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