In a new study from The University of Hong Kong, researchers found statin use in people with heart failure is linked to a 16% lower risk of developing cancer compared with non-statin users.
They also found that statin use was associated with a 26% reduced risk of dying from cancer over the same period.
Previous research has shown that heart failure patients are at increased risk of developing cancer, possibly because heart failure may be a cancer-causing condition via shared pathways such as inflammation or genetic factors.
However, there has been very little study of the associations between statin use and the risk of developing and dying from cancer in patients with heart failure.
In the study, the team examined over 87,000 people. Patients were followed up until they were diagnosed with cancer, died or until the end of 2018, whichever came earlier.
The team found that the longer people with heart failure took statins, the greater the reduction in their risk of developing cancer.
Compared with taking statins for between three months and two years, if patients remained on statins for four and six years, their risk reduced by 18% and if they took them for six or more years the risk reduced by 22%.
Similarly, the risk of dying from cancer reduced by 33% and 39% if patients remained on statins for four to six years and for six or more years respectively, compared to patients who took them for between three months and two years.
The team says ten years after starting statins, deaths from cancer were 3.8% among heart failure patients taking statins and 5.2% among non-users—a reduction in the absolute risk of death of 1.4%.
The reduction in the absolute risk of developing cancer after six years on statins was 22% lower compared to those who received only between three months and two years of statins.
Heart failure is a growing disease globally and deaths due to other causes unrelated to the heart and blood vessels are of concern.
These findings can help raise doctors’ awareness of the increasing cancer incidence among heart failure patients and encourage them to pay extra attention to non-cardiovascular-related outcomes.
Moreover, this study highlights the link between heart failure and cancer development and provides important information regarding the possibility of reducing cancer incidence and related deaths by using statins in these patients.
The study is published in the European Heart Journal. One author of the study is Dr. Kai-Hang Yiu.
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