Study Links Statins with Lower Cancer Deaths

Statin drugs to lower cholesterol may also reduce the risk of cancer death, a new study suggests. The study included 18,721 Danish adults who took statins before being diagnosed with cancer. They were compared with 277,204 cancer patients who had never used statins. People who took statins were 15% less likely to die of cancer or any other cause during a follow-up period. Researchers said that’s about the average benefit of chemotherapy. But experts said this doesn’t mean people with cancer should take statins. For example, death rates were not lower for those who took bigger doses of statins. Researchers look for that sort of relationship as evidence that a drug fights disease. The study also did not randomly assign people to receive a treatment or a placebo (fake). That means other factors could explain the results. The New England Journal of Medicine published the study.