Statin use and the risk of renal cell carcinoma in 2 prospective US cohorts Cancer, 07/15/2011

Liu W et al.– The current study indicated that statin use may be associated with a lower risk of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in women, although these results need to be investigated further.

• The authors investigated the association between statin use and RCC risk in the Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow–Up Study.
• In total, 80,782 women and 37,869 men were followed for 14 years and 16 years, respectively.
• Regular statin use was assessed at baseline and was updated biennially during follow–up. RCC diagnosis was confirmed by medical record review.

• Two hundred seventy–seven incident RCC cases (164 women and 113 men) were identified.
• Compared with no current use, the multivariate relative risks of current statin use were 0.68 (95% confidence interval, 0.46–1.00) in women and 1.17 (95% confidence interval, 0.75–1.82) in men.
• The results for ever versus never users of statins were similar.
• No dose–response relation with duration of statin use and RCC risk was observed.
• On subgroup analyses, statin use was associated with a reduced RCC risk among women who had no history of hypertension.