Here's a potential win for statins: A study revealed today shows a link between men who take the cholesterol-lowering drugs and reduced diagnoses of prostate cancer.
The study, conducted by a team from Brigham and Women's Hospital, looked at more than 55,000 men who were taking either a statin or an anti-hypertension medication. It found that the men on statins were 60 percent less likely to be diagnosed with high-grade prostate tumors.
These data could be important to the more than 200,000 men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the U.S. annually, according to the group. The researchers gathered data for the study from the Veteran Affairs New England Healthcare System's electronic and administrative files.
"Although prostate cancer is commonly diagnosed, few risk factors for high-grade prostate cancer are known and few prevention strategies exist," Wildon Farwell, a physician at Veterans Affairs Healthcare System and Brigham and Women's Hospital, said in a statement. "Learning more about the relationship between statins and prostate cancer may provide important clues into the basic biology of prostate cancer."
The study was presented at the Prostate Cancer Research Program's Innovative Minds in Prostate Cancer conference in Orlando, FL. The program funded the study at Brigham and Women's.
- here's the release