According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 26 percent of Americans take statins (Source: Consumer Healthday). Statins are a specific class of drug that lowers the level of cholesterol in the blood by reducing the production of cholesterol by the liver. Although statins are prescribed for high cholesterol, they may be beneficial for overall health and wellness. A recent study led by Ashwin N. Ananthakrishnan, MD, MPH, of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, found that taking statins could lower individuals’ risk for colorectal cancer.
Dr. Ananthakrishnan and his research team collected data on 11,001 patients with inflammatory bowel disease who received care at a Greater Boston metropolitan hospital between 1998 and 2010. Cases of colon cancer were calculated as well as targeted data on statin use, evaluated through electronic prescriptions. Adjustments were made for factors such as smoking, increased inflammation and primary sclerosing cholangitis. The primary goal was to identify a connection between colorectal cancer diagnosis and statin use.
Of the 11,001 patients, 1,376 individuals (12.5 percent) took at least one statin. These patients were more likely to be male, Caucasian, older, smokers and have more comorbidities than patients not prescribed statins. Also, 62 percent of patients prescribed a statin suffered from ulcerative colitis, one type of inflammatory bowel disease (Source: Healio).
Dr. Ananthakrishnan found that two percent of patients who took a statin received a colorectal cancer diagnosis during the follow-up period of nine years, compared to 3 percent of patients who received a colorectal cancer diagnosis who did not take statins.
The research team concluded that this study is an important first step in establishing an association between statin use and colon cancer diagnosis, but more research is needed in the future. In the final report, the team wrote, “In conclusion, using a large, well-characterized cohort of patients with IBD, we show an inverse association between statin use and risk of colorectal cancer. There is a need for mechanistic studies on the role of statins in colitis-associated cancer to supplement the existing data on sporadic colon cancer. Further confirmation from other cohorts may provide support for the use of statins as a chemopreventive in patients with IBD.”