Statins: 50% lower risk of esophageal, pancreatic cancer.(Clinical Rounds)

CHICAGO -- Add esophageal and pancreatic cancer to the growing list of cancers that might be prevented by taking a statin, according to a review of data on 484,226 military veterans.

The use of a statin was associated with a 56% reduced incidence of esophageal cancer and a 59% reduced incidence of pancreatic cancer, after investigators controlled for age, gender, smoking, alcohol use, and diabetes, Vikas Khurana, M.D., said at the annual Digestive Disease Week.

The database used did not specify which statin was used, the dose, or the duration. The investigators simply compared cancer rates in persons who were taking a statin before their cancer diagnosis with rates in those who were not. Overall, 34% of the subjects were on a statin.

The list of cancers that have been shown to occur at lower rates in statin users now includes lung, breast, prostate, and colon, as well as pancreatic and esophageal. The studies have been fairly consistent in showing reduction in risk of about 50%.

"These are not definitive studies. What we found is an ...