Women who take statins – drugs that lower cholesterol levels – seem to have a lower risk of dying from cancer, according to results of a large study presented at a US conference.
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From Medical Express
Statins may lower risk of cancer-related death in women
the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:
According to results of a large study presented at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois, researchers have found that women who take statins, medications used to treat hyperlipidemia, may have a decreased risk for cancer-related death.
For the 15-year study, researchers followed nearly 150,000 post-menopausal women aged 50 to 79 years. Over that period, more than 3,100 women died of cancer. Results showed that women who took statins had a reduced risk of dying from breast, colorectal, and ovarian cancers, but not lung cancer.
Researchers found that patients who took statins were 20% less likely to die from cancer during the study duration; however, they caution that this study does not prove a causal effect that statins reduce the lower the risk cancer-related mortality.
Further studies are warranted to determine whether it would be beneficial for women with cancer to be prescribed statins to reduce their risk of death.
