LOS ANGELES — Statin users had an increased risk of colorectal adenomatous polyps in a large, single-center study, but study authors cautioned that “the numbers could look different” after the results are adjusted for other risk factors for polyps, such as diabetes and obesity.
Those factors will be examined in the second phase of the study, Dr. Nazia Qazi said in an interview during a poster session at the annual Digestive Disease Week.
She and her associates in the division of gastroenterology at Maimonides Medical Center and Coney Island Hospital, New York, evaluated 1,000 consecutive patients who underwent screening colonoscopy at the hospital. Patients were asked about their use of statins, aspirin, and NSAIDs, as well as family history of colon cancer.
Of the 1,000 patients, 352 were white, 317 were African American, 179 were Hispanic, and 150 were Asian. More than half (599) were women, and their average age was 62 years.
The researchers had complete data on 679 patients. Of those, 227 were using statins, and their mean duration of statin use was nearly 2 years.
During colonoscopy, adenomatous polyps were detected in 304 patients. Of the 227 taking statins, 118 had adenomatous polyps. Of the 452 not taking statins, 186 had polyps. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant.
“This association remained significant after adjustment for other risk factors, including family history of colon cancer, gender, age, and aspirin and NSAID use,” the researchers wrote in their poster. “There was no association between statin use and the size, number, or location of the polyps. Given the widely accepted 'adenoma to carcinoma sequence,' our study does not support the prior finding that statin use decreases the risk of colon cancer.”