Chest
Original Research: CancerStatins Reduce the Risk of Lung Cancer in Humans: A Large Case-Control Study of US Veterans
Section snippets
Data Source
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is organized into 21 administrative regions called Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs). VISN 16, or the South Central Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care Network, provides health-care treatment to veterans in an eight-state region that includes Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. The network, an integrated health-care system, includes 10 medical centers, 33 community-based outpatient clinics, 7
Results
The demographics of the case and control population are as shown in Table 1. Men comprised 97.9% of those with lung cancer (n = 7,124). Of the 483,733 patients in the study population, 7,280 patients (1.5%) had lung cancer and 163,662 patients (33.8%) were receiving statins. Use of statins was seen in 1,994 of the 7,280 patients (27.4%) with lung cancer and 161,668 of 476,453 patients (33.9%) without lung cancer. Those who received statins after the diagnosis of lung cancer were included in the
Discussion
To date, there is no effective chemopreventive agent identified for lung cancer. Several epidemiologic surveys16 have shown that high levels of beta-carotene in the diet or in the blood are associated with lower risk of cancer in general and lung cancer in particular. Some studies17, 18 have suggested that low serum concentrations of certain antioxidants vitamins, especially derivatives of vitamins A and E, are associated with the development of lung cancer. Many studies19, 2021 now suggest
Conclusion
Statin use > 6 months was associated with a 55% reduction in the odds for lung cancer. Due to the high prevalence of statin use and grave prognosis of lung cancer, even a modest risk reduction means a considerable effect on public health. Our study suggests that statins have a potential role in primary chemoprevention for lung cancer. Well-designed randomized prospective double-blinded placebo controlled clinical trials are necessary to validate the value of statins in lung cancer prevention
References (51)
- et al.
Prevention of coronary heart disease with pravastatin in men with hypercholesterolemia. 1995
Atheroscler Suppl
(2004) - et al.
Association of low plasma cholesterol with mortality for cancer at various sites in men: 17-y follow-up of the prospective Basel study
Am J Clin Nutr
(2000) - et al.
Pravastatin in Elderly Individuals at Risk of Vascular Disease (PROSPER): a randomised controlled trial
Lancet
(2002) - et al.
Do statins cause cancer? A meta-analysis of large randomized clinical trials
Am J Med
(2001) - et al.
Inhibition of lung tumor cell growthin vitroand mouse lung tumor formation by lovastatin
Cancer Lett
(1996) - et al.
Cancer statistics, 2005
CA Cancer J Clin
(2005) - et al.
Primary prevention of acute coronary events with lovastatin in men and women with average cholesterol levels: results of AFCAPS/TexCAPS; Air Force/Texas Coronary Atherosclerosis Prevention Study
JAMA
(1998) Randomised trial of cholesterol lowering in 4444 patients with coronary heart disease: the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study (4S)
Lancet
(1994)Prevention of cardiovascular events and death with pravastatin in patients with coronary heart disease and a broad range of initial cholesterol levels. The Long-Term Intervention With Pravastatin in Ischaemic Disease (LIPID) Study Group
N Engl J Med
(1998)- et al.
The effect of pravastatin on coronary events after myocardial infarction in patients with average cholesterol levels: Cholesterol and Recurrent Events Trial investigators
N Engl J Med
(1996)
Cholesterol lowering with statin drugs, risk of stroke, and total mortality: an overview of randomized trials
JAMA
Effect of HMGcoA reductase inhibitors on stroke: a meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials
Ann Intern Med
Reductase inhibitor monotherapy and stroke prevention
Arch Intern Med
Reduction of stroke events with pravastatin: the Prospective Pravastatin Pooling (PPP) Project
Circulation
Efficacy and long-term adverse effect pattern of lovastatin
Am J Cardiol
Statins and the risk of colorectal cancer
N Engl J Med
Statins and prostate cancer risk: a case-control study
Am J Epidemiol
Veterans Health Information System and Technology Architecture (VistA) as a Research Tool
Cancer prevention: beta-carotene; helpful or harmful?
Science
Identification of candidate cancer chemopreventive agents and their evaluation in animal models and human clinical trials: a review
Cancer Res
Serum α-tocopherol and subsequent risk of lung cancer among male smokers
J Natl Cancer Inst
Prospective study of fruit and vegetable consumption and risk of lung cancer among men and women
J Natl Cancer Inst
Fruits and vegetables and lung cancer: findings from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition
Int J Cancer
Fruits, vegetables and lung cancer: a pooled analysis of cohort studies
Int J Cancer
Cited by (0)
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the American College of Chest Physicians (www.chestjournal.org/misc/reprints.shtml).