Do Statins Contribute to Cancer Recurrence?

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https://www.curetoday.com/community/bonnie-annis/2...


Do Statins Contribute to Cancer Recurrence?

High cholesterol is a huge problem in America today, but are the statin drugs used to control high cholesterol potentially dangerous? Could these medications pose a health risk to cancer patients?

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  • Peregrinelady
    Peregrinelady Member Posts: 1,019
    edited March 2018
    Wow, cp418, thanks for sharing. My LDL is a little high and I was expecting my dr. to prescribe statin drugs. Now I will definitely say no if he does.
  • pupmom
    pupmom Member Posts: 5,068
    edited March 2018

    Odd thing is, I have read just the opposite. Ugh, who knows.

  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited March 2018

    This is the big dilemma for me with drugs. My cholesteral is high. I had (odd rare) ovarian cancer with large volume ascites that resolved with surgery, but still...I was very sick and almost died. Right after that I was diagnosed with LCIS. They wanted me to take AIs to prevent breast cancer. This makes cholesteral worse. They wanted me to take statins, which can cause liver problems, right after I had a very, very unhappy liver with ascites. One drug will lead to another & another..

  • wrenn
    wrenn Member Posts: 2,707
    edited March 2018

    Thank you for this. I did more research and it seems certain types of statins are worse. I am going to have mine changed. Here is one article that mentions that lipophilic are better.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28432513

  • Jelson
    Jelson Member Posts: 1,535
    edited March 2018

    cp418 - thank you for starting this thread. It is interesting that the article in Cure was published 10 years after the original study article which you also kind enough to post. I found the Cure article fascinating - personal interest: just starting statins, reading while waiting to be seen in oncologist's office AND THEN WHAT??? I assumed that she would raise the question of statins and cancer recurrence with her oncologist and I wanted to to know what she/he said!!!!! and then I realized (duh!) this is a magazine meant to be read in an oncologist's office. the message is ask your oncologist - WE aren't stating an opinion. So thank you Wrenn for doing additional research on this question.


  • Meow13
    Meow13 Member Posts: 4,859
    edited March 2018

    yes thank you. Doctors tend to want to prescribe these drugs. My cholesterol was slightly high the first thing my gp wanted to do is put me on medication. Next time my cholesterol was fine.

    Better living tgrough chemistry isn't for me.

  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited March 2018

    At first glance, this study appears to offer evidence to the contrary. At closer glance, it makes me angry. If I read it correctly, it talks about how this study showed that women with higher cholesterol had lower rates of cancer. They attributed this to ...... get this....... the fact that women with high cholesterol probably took statins, and the statins likely lowered the cancer risk. 😡

    No direct study of that.

    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170828093810.htm

    Thank you for starting this thread. The timing is impeccable. My cholesterol jumped 60 points this year thanks to Letrozole. I am thankful Letrozole has kept the cancer away so far, but the cholesterol annoys me since I eat very healthy and exercise daily

  • Jelson
    Jelson Member Posts: 1,535
    edited March 2018

    KBee - thanks for reminding me, I had forgotten about the study from August 2017, I made the same comment you are making when it was featured by our moderators here on BCO https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/73/topics/858272?page=1#post_5035684 so sloppy

  • marijen
    marijen Member Posts: 3,731
    edited March 2018

    Here’s more recent information.

    Statins slash risk of death by cancer by up to 50% reveal major studies | Daily Mail Online


    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3108313/...


  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited March 2018

    The article there appears compelling on the surface, but they also seem to just show that people on statins as a whole, have lower death rates. They are ignoring the fact that the reason they are on statins May have some protective benefits. I think I would prefer to see a randomized trial with a control. I think that is the only definitive way to know. Anything else is making a pretty big speculative jump; especially when many of the researchers received funding from the statin drug companies. I would like the article to reference the study, which it does not. I’ll try to find it. A simple search on my phone does not find it

    I am not saying statins are bad; they help many, many people. I shudder though when I read info in the article where some in the article speculate that statins May have a cancer prevention role. Like many meds, side effects can be downplayed

  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited March 2018

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5716320/#!po=23.1481

    That article does summarize many potential benefits of statins, but also some long term cautions. It sure would be nice to have a randomized study since many of these studies are retrospective or very small. It would be so easy, but since statins are so cheap, it would likely be like studying aspirin. No one wants to do it if there aren't bigbucks in it!!!!

  • wrenn
    wrenn Member Posts: 2,707
    edited March 2018

    I like that the NIH pubmed articles mention conflicts of interest at the end.

  • marijen
    marijen Member Posts: 3,731
    edited March 2018

    So I’m wondering why they don’t just say if your cholesterol results are all in normal range, you have a 40% betterchance of not getting cancer? It can’t be better to have high cholesterol, ldl, and trigliserides that are controlled by statins, can it?

  • wrenn
    wrenn Member Posts: 2,707
    edited March 2018

    I find it very confusing. I trust Pubmed but am just suspicious in general about who funds studies especially when we are getting contradictory information.

    Earlier today I was going to quit my statin and had a note on my calendar to make an appointment with my internal medicine doc. Hours later I decided to lower dose before seeing him and now and thinking I need to increase the dose.

  • marijen
    marijen Member Posts: 3,731
    edited March 2018

    I tried to take statins once a long time ago, I got the muscle pain side effects so I quit them. I finally learned (too late) how to keep my cholesterol in line by changing my diet but according to my BS my cancer had been growing slowing for 20 years. Yes that's what he said. I'm hoping since my cholesterol is normal now that I'm getting the 40% benefit against recurrence.

    So wrenn, are the statins causing a problem for you? Why don't you want to stay on them?


  • wrenn
    wrenn Member Posts: 2,707
    edited March 2018

    Marijen, I haven’t had problems but read that the type I take has a negative effect on cancer. Now I am not sure. Although I trust pubmed info it is hard to slog through and I mainly stick to reading the “conclusion”. I am going to try to read more tomorrow and narrow it down although frankly I feel like the stress of trying to piece it together may do more harm than drugs. I gave up meat and dairy 3 weeks ago and will see if that makes a difference.

    I really appreciate you and others here sharing this information

  • Meow13
    Meow13 Member Posts: 4,859
    edited March 2018

    My cholesterol seems to be controlled with diet and exercise but there are people that need the statins. I find the doctors tend to over prescribe.

  • Traveltext
    Traveltext Member Posts: 2,089
    edited March 2018

    Everything I read says cancer loves cholesterol. So, since I need statins to ward off a third stroke, I'm thinking I'll stay on them regardless of the contradictory studies re statins and bc.


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