Table 5 Effect of statins on cancer in recent meta-analyses
Authors (year), reference | Number of studies | Type of cancer | Main findings |
|---|---|---|---|
Bansal et al. (2012) [83] | 15 cohort and 12 case–control studies | Prostate cancer | Statins decreased the risk of prostate cancer (RR 0.93, 95 % CI 0.30–0.86) and advanced prostate cancer (RR 0.80, 95 % CI 0.70–0.90) |
Singh et al. (2013) [84] | 13 studies (including a post hoc analysis of 22 RCTs) | Esophageal cancer | Statins reduced the risk of esophageal cancer (OR 0.72 95 % CI 0.60–0.86) |
Wu et al. (2013) [85] | 3 post hoc analyses of 26 RCTs and 8 observational studies | Gastric cancer | Statin use was associated with a decreased risk of gastric cancer (RR 0.73, 95 % CI 0.58–0.93) |
Emberson et al. (2012) [86] | 27 RCTs | Any | Statins did not reduce the incidence of, or mortality from, any type of cancer (RR 1.00, 95 % CI 0.96–1.05 for incidence; RR 1.00, 95 % CI 0.93–1.08) |
Tan et al. (2013) [87] | 5 RCTs, 7 cohort and 7 case–control studies | Lung cancer | Statin did not decrease the risk of lung cancer either among RCTs (RR 0.91, 95 % CI 0.76–1.09), cohort studies (RR 0.94, 95 % CI 0.82–1.07) and case–control studies (RR 0.82, 95 % CI 0.57–1.16) |
Zhang et al. (2014) [88] | 29 studies (including a post hoc analysis of 8 RCTs) | Skin cancer | Statins did not reduce the risk of skin cancer among melanoma (RR 0.94, 95 % CI 0.85–1.04) or non-melanoma skin cancer (RR 1.03, 95 % CI 0.90–1.19) |