Statins are Associated with Reduced Overall and Cancer-Specific Mortality in Patients Undergoing Radical Cystectomy for Bladder Cancer

BACKGROUND: Existing literature provides contrasting data on statin use and bladder cancer (BC) outcome. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated whether (chronic) statin use was associated with clinical outcomes in patients with BC undergoing radical cystectomy (RC). METHODS: Using provincial health administrative databases, we retrospectively identified BC patients undergoing RC in Quebec province in 2000-2015, and collected data from two years before RC until December 2016 or death. We compared patients who chronically used statins before RC to never statin users. Survival analyses were conducted using Kaplan-Meier curves, log-rank tests, and Cox proportional hazards models. Covariates in multivariable analyses were age, sex, Charlson’s comorbidity index, year of RC, distance to hospital, hospital type, hospital’s and surgeon’s annual RC volume, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy. RESULTS: Our cohort contained 1406 chronic and 1754 never statin users. Five-year overall, BC-specific and recurrence-free survival rates were 40.5% (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 37.8–43.2%), 52.8% (95% CI 49.8–55.7%), and 50.1% (95% CI 47.2–53.0%) for chronic statin users, versus 34.9% (95% CI 32.5–37.2%), 45.5% (95% CI 42.9–48.1%), and 43.4% (95% CI 40.9–45.9%) for never statin users (p≤0.001). In multivariable analyses, hazard ratios (HR) for death, BC-specific deaths and recurrences were 0.83 (95% CI 0.75–0.91), 0.81 (95% CI 0.72–0.91), and 0.83 (95% CI 0.74–0.93) for chronic statin users, respectively. Similar observations were made in patients with diabetes and/or cardiovascular comorbidities (p≤0.001). Clinical outcome was not improved in patients who started statins in the year following surgery compared to never statin users (p > 0.4). CONCLUSIONS: Chronic statin use is associated with improved clinical outcome in BC patients undergoing RC in Quebec.