Statin use in relation to prostate cancer outcomes in a population-based patient cohort study.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: We investigated associations between statin use begun before prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis and PCa recurrence/progression and PCa-specific mortality (PCSM) in a prospective, population-based cohort study. METHODS: The analysis included 1,001 PCa patients diagnosed in 2002-2005 in King County, Washington. Statin use was assessed at the time of diagnosis using a detailed in-person interview. Prostate cancer recurrence/progression events and cause-specific survival were ascertained from a follow-up survey and the SEER registry. Multivariable competing risk and Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess the risk of PCa outcomes according to categories of statin use. RESULTS: Of the 1,001 PCa patients in our study, 289 men were ever users of statin drugs. During follow-up, we identified 151 PCa recurrence/progression events and 123 total deaths, including 39 PCa-specific deaths. In unadjusted analysis, the risk of PCSM was significantly lower for statin users compared to non-users (1% vs. 5% at 10 years; P < 0.01). In multivariable analysis, the adjusted hazard ratio of PCSM for statin users versus non-users was 0.19 (95% CI 0.06, 0.56). Statin use was not associated with overall PCa recurrence/progression and other-cause mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Statin use begun before PCa diagnosis was unrelated to PCa recurrence/progression but was associated with a decrease in risk of PCSM.