Researchers show statins diminish men’s risk of prostate cancer death
According to new research, men prescribed statins experience a greater reduction in risk of prostate cancer death compared with men who do not take the drugs.
Approximately 1000 Seattle-area prostate cancer patients participated in the study, and about 30% of them were previously prescribed statin drugs for cholesterol management. Participants were followed for an average of 8 years.
Study leader Janet L. Stanford, PhD, codirector of the Prostate Cancer Research Program and a member of the Hutchinson Center’s Public Health Sciences Division, and colleagues discovered that the risk of prostate cancer mortality was 1% for patients taking statin drugs and 5% for nonusers.
First author Milan S. Geybels, MSc, of Maastricht University in The Netherlands said, “While statin drugs are relatively well tolerated with a low frequency of serious side effects, they cannot be recommended for the prevention of prostate cancer-related death until a preventive effect on mortality from prostate cancer has been demonstrated in a large, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.”
The study is published online in The Prostate.