Statins reduced incidence of prostate cancer recurrence after prostatectomy

In men with prostate cancer who underwent prostatectomy, the use of statins reduced the disease recurrence rate by 30%.

“Our findings require confirmation in other settings and in particular to determine whether statins are associated with a reduction in metastases and/or prostate cancer specific and overall mortality,” the researchers wrote.

These conclusions were drawn from data taken from the Shared Equal Access Regional Cancer Hospital (SEARCH) database. Data on 1,319 men treated with radical prostatectomy were taken from this database between 1988 and 2008. The researchers compared PSA recurrence between statin users and nonusers. Of the men examined, 18% were taking statins.

Significant differences between statin users and nonusers were identified at presentation. Those men taking statins were more likely to be older (P<.001), have a lower median PSA (P=.04), were more likely to be white (P<.001) and have a higher BMI (P=.05); however, they were also more likely to have a higher biopsy Gleason score (P=.002).

Median follow-up for statin users was 24 months; it was 38 months for nonusers. At that time, 23% of the men had a biochemical recurrence (16% for statin users vs. 25% in nonusers).

After adjusting for the pathological and clinical factors that differed between the two groups, the researchers found that men who used statins had a 30% decreased risk of PSA recurrence (95% CI, 0.50-0.97). This association was dose-dependent.

Hamilton RJ. Cancer. 2010;doi:10.1002/cncr.25308.