Cholesterol-lowering drugs appear to increase the likelihood of heart patientswith cancer riskThe risk of developing this disease can be drastically reduced, according to a new study. As previous studies have shown, patients with heart failure have an increased risk of developing cancer. More specifically, it is the statin drug - cheap pills that people with high cholesterol take.
The University of Hong Kong researchers examined data from 87,102 people with heart failure and an average age of 77 years. The participants were observed for up to 15 years. Those who took statins for at least 90 consecutive days in the year after the initial heart failure diagnosis had a 16 percent lower risk of developing cancer. They were also 26% less likely to die from cancer. This protection further increased the longer patients took the statin drug:
Statins with surprising effects
Those who took the pills for six years or longer had a 22 percent lower risk of developing cancer. The risk of dying from it was 39 percent lower than for those who took it between three months and two years. The lead researcher Dr. Kai-Hang Yiu said: “Heart failure is a growing disease worldwide and deaths from other causes unrelated to the heart and blood vessels are a cause for concern. Our results should increase physicians' awareness of the increasing incidence of cancer in patients with heart failure and encourage them to pay special attention to non-cardiovascular outcomes. “In addition, our study highlights the connection between heart failure and cancer development and provides important information about the possibility of reducing cancer incidence and associated deaths through the use of statins in these patients.”
Dr. Kai-Hang Yiu also emphasizes that further randomized studies should be conducted on this topic. He points out that "the findings, combined with previous research showing the strong association between heart failure and cancer, call for potential strategies to reduce cancer risk, such as screening for cancer in patients with heart failure."
You can find the study inEuropean Heart Journal.
