The longest follow-up of patients randomly assigned to receive either statin therapy or placebo has shown that the drugs do not raise cancer incidence or cancer mortality, though they do continue to exert beneficial cardiovascular effects, said Timo E. Strandberg, M.D., of Kuopio (Finland) University, and associates.
“Most statin trials, which generally last 5–6 years, have not shown any rise in cancer incidence in statin-treated participants, but in two studies some excess of cancer was reported,” Dr. Strandberg and associates said. They examined cancer risk by extending the follow-up in their trial of more than 4,000 subjects in five Nordic countries (Lancet 2004;364:771–7).
During 10 years of follow-up, 100 subjects who had received placebo and 85 who had received simvastatin died from cancer, reflecting a slight but statistically insignificant reduction in cancer mortality with statin use. Similarly, the risk of developing cancer was 12% lower in the statin group than in the placebo group, a nonsignificant difference, the investigators said.