Statins Could Prevent Death From Breast Cancer: Study

According to a new research, statins -- drugs which lower cholestrol -- could reduce risk of death in women with breast cancer by 38 per cent. The study, which was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, found that women who took statins were less likely to see their cancer come back.

Researchers went over seven existing studies which had the data for 197,048 women. They found that women who used statins for less than four years showed the strongest effect, with the risk of death reducing by more than 38 per cent. Overall statin use was correlated with a 27 per cent reduction in risk of cancer-related death.

Patients who took the drug for more than four years showed only a 16 per cent reduction in death-related to breast cancer.

The team from the National Cancer Centre in Beijing found that different statins had different effects. The lipophilic statin had a stronger protective effect among breast cancer patients than did the hydrophilic stains.

“We did a meta-analysis which showed statins truly can change the prognosis of breast cancer but it is constrained by the type of statin and user-time,” said Dr Binding Liu from Beijing. 

Experts are now calling for more clinical trials, which examine the relationship of statins to breast cancer in the long term.

Breast cancer is the most common types of cancer for women in India. There is a higher rate of the most aggressive type of breast cancer in India than in Western countries. Breast cancer accounts for 27 per cent of all cancers in women in India, according to cancerindia.org

Also Read: 7 Signs and Symptoms of Breast Cancer