Statins do not increase breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women

1. Statin use did not increase the risk of developing breast cancer among postmenopausal women.

Evidence Rating Level: 2 (Good)

While statins are commonly used lipid-lowering drugs in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, they may also play a role in preventing breast cancer, although the evidence is conflicting. This study thus investigated statin use and the risk of incident breast cancer as well as the subtype of breast cancer, in postmenopausal women. The Karolinska Mammography Project for Risk Prediction of Breast Cancer (KARMA) was a prospective cohort study that included postmenopausal women undergoing clinical or screening mammography from four hospitals between January 2011 and March 2013. Participants were followed until the date of invasive breast cancer diagnosis, date of death, or December 31, 2019, whichever came first. In total, 35,315 participants were included in the study (median age [IQR], 62 [57, 67]). The median follow-up time was 6.6 years. In total, 25% of participants were statin users, of which 16% were prevalent statin users, and 9% were incident statin users. During eight years of follow-up, there were 785 incident invasive breast cancer cases reported. Incident or prevalent statin use was not significantly associated with risk of incident breast cancer (Adjusted hazard ratio [HRadj] 1.24, 95% CI 0.89–1.72, and HRadj 0.90, 95% CI 0.73–1.11, respectively). Incident or prevalent statin use was also not significantly associated with subtype-specific risk of breast cancer. Overall, this study found statin use did not increase the risk of developing breast cancer among postmenopausal women, suggesting statins are safe medications in the context of breast cancer for this population. Future studies with longer follow-up are needed to confirm the study findings.

Click here to read the study in Cancer Causes & Control

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