Statin use and the risk of renal cell carcinoma: national cohort study.

Statins are a therapeutic drug with reducing plasma cholesterol levels and have been linked with potential antitumor effects. However, epidemiological studies on statin use and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) risk have been inconsistent. This cohort study aimed to examine this association in an Asian population. We identified patients who filled initial prescriptions for statins in the inpatient and ambulatory care order files from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2005 as the statin users cohort (n=14,067). The comparison cohort comprised of patients who had not taken any statin in the previous years prior to January 1, 1998 or had used statins for less than 28 cumulative defined daily doses between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2005 (n=56 268). The outcome of interest was pathologically verified RCC occurred between January 1, 1999 and December 31, 2013. The Fine-Gray competing risk model was fitted to estimate HRs accompanying 95% CI. Patients with the use of statins had a significantly lower risk of RCC as compared with the non-users cohort, yielding an adjusted HR of 0.64 (95% CI, 0.38 to 0.87). Moreover, we found a significant inverse association between cumulative statin use and the risk of RCC. Further, the inverse association between statin use and risk of RCC was evident in both sexes. This population-based cohort study provides longitudinal evidence that the use of statins was associated with a reduced risk of RCC.

Journal of investigative medicine : the official publication of the American Federation for Clinical Research. 2019 Dec 09 [Epub ahead of print]

Yu-Ching Chou, Chih-Hung Lin, Chih-Shung Wong, Wan-Yun Chou, Jin-Yin Chang, Chien-An Sun

School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan., Department of Internal Medicine, Cathay General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan., Department of Anesthesiology, Cathay General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan., Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan., Department of Medical Research, Cathay General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan., Department of Public Health, Fu-Jen Catholic University College of Medicine, New Taipei City, Taiwan .