- 47 per cent lower risk of death in prostate cancer patients taking statins
- Drugs also found to reduce death in lung, breast and bowel cancer patients
- Cholesterol busting drugs may be used as to treat the disease in future
- Previous studies found statins help stop breast cancer from returning
Rosie Taylor And Sophie Borland For The Daily Mail
52
View
comments
Statins could help cut the number of deaths from cancer, a major British study has found.
Scientists discovered cancer patients who had also been diagnosed with high cholesterol were half as likely to die than those without the condition.
They realised the statins patients were prescribed for their high cholesterol were behind the improved survival rates.
Previous studies have shown statins have a protective effect on breast tissue and can help prevent breast cancer from returning.
The latest discovery focusing on four common cancer types could now pave the way for statins to be used as a cancer treatment in future.
Cancer patients who had also been diagnosed with high cholesterol were up to half as likely to die than those without the condition
The research was presented at the Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology conference in Florence, Italy.
For the study, researchers analysed information from 22,677 people suffering from lung, breast, prostate and bowel cancers, taken from a database of nearly one million patients.
All had been admitted to hospitals in the UK with cancer across a 14-year period between January 2000 and March 2013, and anonymised information on their other health conditions – including whether they had high cholesterol – was available.
After adjusting for factors which might influence death rates, including age, gender, ethnicity and other common causes of death, researchers found cancer patients were less likely to die if they had a diagnosis of high cholesterol than if they did not.
A third of us have no idea what a ‘normal poo’ looks like:…
‘Chemo was tough but I was tougher!’ Baby who developed…
Can extreme tiredness be treated with acupressure? Breast…
Young woman, 24, who blamed her headaches on a hangover…
A high cholesterol diagnosis was associated with:
* A 47 per cent lower risk of death in prostate cancer patients
* A 43 per cent lower risk in those with breast cancer
* A 30 per cent lower risk in bowel cancer cases
* A 22 per cent lower risk in lung cancer patients.
Around nine out of ten patients with high cholesterol were taking statins.
Lead author of the study Dr Paul Carter, of Aston University Medical School in Birmingham, said: ‘Our research suggests there’s something about having a high cholesterol diagnosis that improves survival – and the extent to which it did that was quite striking in the four cancers studied.
‘Based on previous research we think there’s a very strong possibility that statins are producing this effect.
‘Because we saw the association among all four cancers we studied, we think this effect is caused by medications used for high cholesterol such as statins.’
He said the drugs may also reduce the chances of dying from other cancers, but further research was needed.
Statins have a protective effect on breast tissue and can help prevent breast cancer from returning, while the latest study found those with breast cancer have a 43 per cent lower risk of dying
Senior author Dr Rahul Potluri said statins could help protect against death from cancer because they reduced cholesterol, which is known to worsen cancer.
They may also affect how enzymes – molecules which trigger chemical reactions in the body – function, causing them to protect against the disease.
He said in terms of their effect on cancer, ‘other mechanisms of statins could exist which have not been shown yet’.
Furthermore, there should now be a clinical trial to examine whether statins can benefit cancer patients – whether or not they have high cholesterol.
Dr Potluri suggested further studies could show whether other medications aimed at helping the heart and cardiovascular system – such as aspirin, beta-blockers and ACE inhibitors – may also have a similar, protective effect on cancer patients.
He added: ‘Whether it is statins and/or other cardiovascular drugs in combination that have an effect on mortality remains to be seen.’
But he said cancer patients without a diagnosis of high cholesterol should not necessarily take statins until further research had been carried out.
‘Patients with cancer who are at high risk or have established cardiovascular disease should be given statins as per current guidelines,’ he said.
‘I don’t think at the moment we can give statins for cancer per se. But this could change if there was a positive result in the clinical trial.’
Share or comment on this article
WARNING GRAPHIC: Gunman shoots police officer on Dallas…
GRAPHIC: Woman livestreams moments after police shoot…
WARNING GRAPHIC: Second video shows Alton Sterling shooting
Fierce gun battle heard during BLM protest in Dallas
‘Person of interest’ Mark Hughes stopped with rifle in…
Man surrenders to police in Dallas after snipers shoot cops
WARNING GRAPHIC: Cops shoot Alton Sterling at point blank…
Dramatic moment protesters flee after shots fired in Dallas
Woman speaks out after police shot and killed her boyfriend
Falcon Heights shooting aftermath show cops giving CPR
Footage shows Fresno police fatally shooting unarmed man
Man fuming after he was wrongly accused as a Dallas shooter
‘He wanted to kill white people, especially white officers’:…
Bill O’Reilly shares photos of Barack Obama in traditional…
Woman Facebook live-streams her dying boyfriend seconds…
Terrifying moment brave cop’s bullet bounces off armored…
‘He didn’t have any last words, his eyes rolled in the back…
Minnesota cop who shot Philando Castile and panicked as the…
I feared police would destroy video of them shooting my…
Pictured: Army Reservist Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, who shot…
‘People literally don’t feel what’s going on. This is the…
‘We didn’t have time to do everything we wanted’: Father and…
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Pretty chuffed? VERY chuffed!’ Clarkson, Hammond…
‘This was a vicious, calculated and despicable attack’:…
Comments (62)
Share what you think
-
Newest -
Oldest -
Best rated -
Worst rated
The comments below have not been moderated.
The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.
Find out now