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Statin use and risk of breast cancer
Author(s) -
Pocobelli Gaia,
Newcomb Polly A.,
TrenthamDietz Amy,
TitusErnstoff Linda,
Hampton John M.,
Egan Kathleen M.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/cncr.23129
Subject(s) - medicine , breast cancer , pravastatin , statin , odds ratio , cancer , fluvastatin , population , oncology , confidence interval , simvastatin , environmental health , cholesterol
Abstract BACKGROUND. Findings that statins inhibited the proliferation of breast cancer cells in vitro and in rodents have raised interest in whether the use of statins might decrease a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. We analyzed data from a population‐based case‐control study to evaluate the association between the use of statins and breast cancer risk. METHODS. Cases of incident invasive breast cancer in women 50 years of age or older and diagnosed from 1995–2001 were identified from population‐based cancer registries in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Controls were randomly selected, within each state, from lists of licensed drivers and Medicare beneficiaries. Information on the use of statins and other breast cancer risk factors was ascertained from structured telephone interviews. RESULTS. Overall, breast cancer cases were not more likely than controls to have ever used statins. Ever use of lipophilic statins as a group (simvastatin, lovastatin, and fluvastatin) and ever use of the hydrophilic statin pravastatin were also not associated with breast cancer risk. Ever use of fluvastatin was associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer (odds ratio [OR], 0.5; 95% confidence interval, 0.3–0.8) but the magnitude of the ORs did not vary across categories of duration of use. CONCLUSIONS. The use of statins overall was not associated with breast cancer risk. Cancer 2008. © 2007 American Cancer Society.