Epidemiologic studies suggest that statin use may be inversely associated with risk of prostate cancer, but prior studies have focused predominantly on non-Hispanic white populations.
We evaluated the association between statin use and prostate cancer risk in the Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS). Study participants were 32,091 men aged 40-79 at baseline, 67% of whom were non-Hispanic black. Between study enrollment (2002-2009) and December 31, 2010, 570 prostate cancer cases were diagnosed, including 324 low-grade cancers (Gleason score 7 or Gleason pattern 4 + 3). Analyses of overall prostate cancer were conducted using Cox regression and analyses of grade-specific cancer were conducted using competing risks models.
Ten percent of non-Hispanic black men and 22% of non-Hispanic white men reported use of statins at study enrollment. As compared to non-use, statin use was associated with a non-significant 14% lower risk of prostate cancer in multivariable models (Hazard Ratio [HR]:0.86; 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 0.63-1.18). This association was stronger for high-grade cancer (HR: 0.62; 95%CI: 0.30, 1.28) than low-grade cancer (HR:0.98; 95%CI: 0.65-1.48). Results were similar by race/ethnicity (p-interaction: 0.41) and did not vary by history of prostate-specific antigen [PSA] screening (p-interaction: 0.65).
Results suggest no strong association between statin use and prostate cancer risk overall, and further suggest that if a modest protective effect does exist, it does not vary by race/ethnicity and may be restricted to high-grade tumors, although power to detect differences by subgroup was limited. Prostate © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Prostate. 2015 May 27. doi: 10.1002/pros.23019. [Epub ahead of print]
Kantor ED1, Lipworth L2, Fowke JH2, Giovannucci EL1,3, Mucci LA1,4, Signorello LB1,4.
1 Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
2 Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
3 Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
4 Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Boston, Massachusetts.