Cancer risk in older people receiving statin therapy:a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Abstract：Objective To determine the risk of cancer in people aged over 60 years receiving statin therapy. Methods A comprehensive search for articles published up to December 2015 was performed,reviews of each randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared the effects of statin monotherapy with placebo on the risk of cancer in people aged ≥ 60 years were conducted and data abstracted. All the included studies were evaluated for publication bias and heterogeneity. Pooled relative risk (RR) estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using RevMan 5.3 software. Results A total of 12 RCTs, involving 62,927 patients (31,517 in statin therapy group and 31,410 in control group),with a follow-up duration of 1.9-5.4 years, contributed to the analysis. The statin therapy did not affect the overall incidence of cancer (RR=1.04,95%CI 0.98~1.10,P=0.19);subgroup analyses showed that neither the hydrophilic (RR=1.06,95%CI 0.93 ~ 1.21,P=0.35) nor lipophilic statins (RR=0.99,95%CI 0.88 ~ 1.11,P=0.83) accounted for the incidence of cancer in older people. Conclusion Our meta-analysis findings do not support a potential cancer risk of statin treatment in people over 60 years old. Further targeted research with a longer follow-up duration are warranted to confirm this issue.
Keywords：StatinsCancerOlder peopleMeta-analysis
Publication Date：2017-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：4( 197-200 )