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# Statin Drugs Prevent Advanced Prostate Cancer
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/statin_drugs_prevent_advanced_prostate_cancer_1113130818/
- Published: 2013-11-13T21:17:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:24:07.000Z
- Description: Elizabeth Platz and colleagues followed 31,000 men for 12 years and found current statin users had about half the risk of advanced prostate cancer and 61% lower risk of fatal or metastatic disease. Total incidence did not fall, and the study cannot establish cause.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Drug, Health News, #vivvo-import

Wednesday Nov 13, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- Taking statin drugs for a long term may reduce the risk of developing advanced prostate cancer, according to a new study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. This is not a trial and a causal relationship has not been established though.

Elizabeth A. Platz, ScD, MPH at Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, MD and colleagues conducted the study and found men who used statin drugs reduced their risk of advanced prostate cancer by 50% and fatal prostate cancer by 60%, compared with those who did not use any currently.

Statin drugs which are commonly used to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease have already been found to have an anticancer activity. These drugs have a proapoptotic and antimetastatic activity against cancer progression. The current study was intended to examine the association between use of statin drugs and total and advanced prostate cancer.

The study showed that taking statin drugs did not lower the total incidence of prostate cancer while lowering the risk of fatal and advanced prostate cancer significantly.

During 12 years of follow-up, 2,579 out of 31,000 were diagnosed with prostate cancer of which 316 were advanced diseases including regionally invasive, metastatic and fatal prostate cancers. The incidence of advanced prostate cancer was 38 per 100,000 person-years in the users of statin drugs, compared with 89 per 100,000 person-years in past or never users.

The results mean that the users of statin drugs was at 49% reduced risk for advanced prostate cancer and 61% reduced risk for metastatic or fatal prostate cancer, compared with those who did not use any currently.

The associations remained largely unchanged after adjustment for prostate specific antigen screening history.

Also, taking statin drugs for a longer period was associated with lower risk of advanced prostate cancer. Compared with nonusers, those who used statin drugs for less than five years were at 40% reduced risk for the disease while those who had used statin drugs for more than five years were at 74% reduced risk.

The study found that taking statin drugs did not reduce the overall or total incidence of prostate cancer though.

The researchers concluded "In this cohort of male health professionals, use of statin drugs was not associated with risk of prostate cancer overall but was associated with a reduced risk of advanced (especially metastatic or fatal) prostate cancer."

Prostate cancer is diagnosed in more than 200,000 men each year in the United States and the disease and its complications kill about 20,000 annually. The disease is in many cases preventable and is nonlethal.

The study suggests that the development of prostate cancer may have something to do with high serum cholesterol. In addition to statin drugs, some dietary supplements may also help including spirulina, berberine, red yeast rice, vegetarian diet, plant sterols, fiber, vitamin c, artichoke leaf extract, and policosanols. And red yeast rice has proved to be as same effective as statins in lowering cholesterol. (David Liu, PHD)