Statin use, prostate cancer risk in men having biopsies ? THE "NEW ...

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Sitemaster

A new report from researchers at The Cleveland Clinic provides information on the association between statin use and prostate cancer in men who received a prostate biopsy between 2000 and 2007.

Tan et al. conducted a retrospective analysis of data from > 4,000 who underwent a prostate biopsy between 2000 and 2007 at The Cleveland Clinic. This article is also discussed in a commentary from Reuters.

Clinical and pathological results of the biopsies were correlated with data on statin use from outpatient pharmacy records.

The results of this retrospective analysis are as follows:

• Data from 4,204 patients were evaluated.
• 3,182 patients (75.7 percent) were not on statin therapy.
• 1,022 patients (24.3 percent) were receiving statins.
• Following biopsy
• 55 percent of men taking statins were diagnosed with prostate cancer.
• 58 percent of men who were not taking statins were diagnosed with prostate cancer.
• Compared to the men not taking statins, men diagnosed with prostate cancer who were on statins
• Were less likely to have a positive digital rectal examination (5.3 vs 8.9 percent; odds ratio [OR] = 0.7; p <0.01)
• Were less likely to have a Gleason score of?? 7 (61.4 vs 72.4 percent; OR = 0.78, p = 0.02)
• Were less likely to have high volume prostate cancer (27.2 vs 31.4, p <0.01)
• Had lower lower PSA levels (5.13 vs 5.98 ng/ml, p = 0.03).

Although statin use and statin non-use appeared to have only a relatively small impact on the overall risk of a diagnosis of prostate cancer among this cohort of men who had been referred for prostate biopsy, it does seem as though the use of statins was associated with a reduction in the incidence of high-grade prostate cancer and a reduction in the volume of tumor in the prostate.

Does this imply that statin use really has a protective effect against prostate cancer? It is still too early to make an absolute determination.

Filed under: Diagnosis, Prevention, Risk Tagged: | biopsy, risk, statin

Source: http://prostatecancerinfolink.net/2011/06/02/statin-use-prostate-cancer-risk-in-men-having-biopsies/

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