Some statins may reduce mortality from lung cancer, a new study suggests. If further research confirms the findings, statins could become an adjuvant therapy for lung cancer.

Researchers from Northern Ireland linked newly diagnosed lung cancer patients in the English cancer registry to prescription records in the UK clinical practice research datalink and Office of National Statistics mortality data.

Based on 3,638 patients, with an average follow-up of three years (maximum 14 years), people who used statins after being diagnosed with lung cancer were 11 per cent less likely to die from the malignancy (adjusted for confounders) than non-users, although this was not statistically significant. Lung cancer-specific mortality was 19 per cent lower both in those who used at least 12 prescriptions of statins and those who took lipophilic statins. Simvastatin, for example, was associated with a 20 per cent reduction. These differences were statistically significant.

Neither one to 12 prescriptions nor hydrophilic statins, such as pravastatin and rosuvastatin, influenced mortality. An analysis of 13,398 lung cancer patients suggested that those who used statins in the year before a lung cancer diagnosis were 12 per cent less likely to die from causes related to the malignancy. This difference was statistically significant.

Statin type did not seem to influence this association. “Our study provides some evidence that lung cancer patients who used statins had a reduction in the risk of death from lung cancer,” said lead author Chris Cardwell from Queen’s University Belfast.

“The magnitude of the association was relatively small and, as with all observational studies, there is the possibility of confounding. However … if replicated in further observational studies, this would provide evidence in favour of conducting a randomised, controlled trial of simvastatin in lung cancer patients.” (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2015; 24:833-41).

• Research presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting has found that death rates among women for some of the commonest cancers – including breast, bowel and ovarian disease – were at least 40 per cent lower among those taking statins. The highest difference was found in bone cancer, where rates dropped by 55 per cent. The 15-year study involved 146,000 women, aged 50 to 79 years.

 

New front opened in battle against lung cancer?