A new meta-analysis has (once again) demonstrated that statin therapy does not appear to be associated with a survival benefit in men who have received first-line treatment for prostate cancer with surgery or radiation therapy.
This new paper (by Scosyrev et al.) in BJU International seems to confirm an earlier meta-analysis by Bonovas et al. (published in 2008) which came to comparable conclusions.
The core data from the new paper are as follows:
- The meta-analysis was based on data from eight primary studies.
- Five of the primary studies were based on radical prostatectomy (RP) patient series
- Three were based on radiotherapy (RT) patient series.
- The eight studies included 2,812 statin users and 10,031 statin non-users.
- Pooled estimates of the hazard ratios (HRs) for the risk of biochemical recurrence in statin users vs. statin non-users were
- 0.91 for the whole set of all eight studies
- 1.02 for the RP series
- 0.71 for the RT series
However, there was distinct evidence of heterogeneity
- Across the whole set of eight studies (P = 0.002)
- Within the RP series (P = 0.05)
- Within the RT series (P = 0.01)
What’s the bottom line?
Well it certainly looks as though we are going to need a series of carefully conducted, 20-year-long, randomized, double-blind trials to really discover whether taking a statin affects survival after initial treatment for prostate cancer. … And what do think the chances of that happening are in our currently depleted economy? (That is not, we hasten to add, any sort of snide political comment.)
Filed under: Diagnosis, Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Risk, Treatment | Tagged: meta-analysis, statin, Treatment |
THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK 
What is a statin?
Nancy:
Statins are cholesterol-lowering agents (e.g., Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor) that are commonly taken by millions of men in America. There is some scientific evidence that regular use of such agents may either reduce the risk for prostate cancer or extend the survival of men already diagnosed with prostate cancer. However, this has never been proven in large clinical trial. The fact that men may live longer on statin therapy because these drugs reduce risk for death from cardiovascular risk factors makes it very difficult to know whether the potential possibility of a real effect on prostate cancer is indeed “real”.