Statins might reduce risk of renal cell carcinoma in humans: case-control study of 500,000 veterans.

Gastroenterology Service, Overton Brooks Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Shreveport, Louisiana 71101, USA.

OBJECTIVES: Statins are commonly used cholesterol-lowering agents noted to suppress tumor cell growth in several in vitro and animal models. METHODS: We studied the association between renal cell carcinoma and statins in veterans. A retrospective nested case-control study was conducted using prospectively collected data from the Veterans Integrated Service Networks 16 Veteran Affairs database from 1998 to 2004. We analyzed the data from 483,733 patients from eight states located in the south-central United States. The primary variables of interest were renal cell carcinoma and the use of statins before the diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma. Multiple logistic regression analysis was done to adjust for covariates, including age, sex, body mass index, and smoking. Statistical Analysis Systems software was used for statistical computing. RESULTS: Of the 483,733 patients in the study, 164,441 (34%) were taking statins before the diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma and 1446 (0.3%) had a primary diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma. Statin use was significantly associated with a risk reduction of renal cell carcinoma of 48% (adjusted odds ratio 0.52, 95% confidence interval 0.45 to 0.60). Furthermore, the protective effect of statins was seen across different age and sex groups and was irrespective of the presence of obesity and smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Statins appear to be protective against the development of renal cell carcinoma, after controlling for age, sex, smoking, and obesity.

PMID: 18242378 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]