UCSF

Background

Statins are a common medication for cholesterol control that may also have effects on cancer-related pathways. The evidence of an association between statins and prostate cancer risk remains ambiguous.

Methods

We examined statin use in a prospective cohort of 5,069 elderly U.S. men and the risk of incident total, low/high stage, and low/high grade prostate cancer diagnosed between 2000 and 2008. We used multivariate logistic regression models to estimate relative risks and 95% confidence intervals, adjusting for demographic and lifestyle characteristics.

Results

There was no evidence of an association between statin use and any of the prostate cancer endpoints (total, low/high stage, low/high grade prostate cancer), adjusting for age, study site, race, body mass index, marital status, family history of prostate cancer, number of comorbidities, physical activity, and smoking history.

Conclusions and impact

In this study of elderly U.S. men, we observed a null association between statin use and risk of prostate cancer.