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Cholesterol-lowering Drugs May be Useful in Prevention of Cancer
A recent study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reports that cholesterol-lowering drugs used in cardiovascular disease prevention have a significant benefit in the prevention of cancer.
It has been thought that cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins (such as pravastatin and simvastatin) may help prevent certain types of cancer. Statin drugs are often prescribed for patients with high levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and have relatively few side effects.
Researchers in this recent study focused on a comparison of two groups of veterans. One group was using blood pressure-lowering drugs alone (25,594 men), and another group was using statin drugs to lower their cholesterol (37,248 men).The study was conducted between 1997 and 2005 and included all types of cancer with the exception of nonmelanoma skin cancer.
Results of the study concluded that the overall rate of cancer incidence was 9.4% among the men using statin drugs compared with 13.2% for those using blood pressure drugs alone. After the data was adjusted for age, the statin users had a lower risk for cancer than the men not using statin drugs.
The researchers concluded that patients using statins may be at lower risk for developing cancer. However, additional studies and randomized trials are recommended to further investigate these findings.