Statin users of ten years have a 30% increased risk of colorectal cancer

This study was published in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety 2008 Sep;17(9):869-76

Study title and authors:
Chronic statin therapy and the risk of colorectal cancer.

Yang YX, Hennessy S, Propert K, Hwang WT, Sarkar M, Lewis JD.
Division of Gastroenterology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6021, USA. yangy@mail.med.upenn.edu

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18412290

The study sought to clarify the association between long-term statin therapy and the risk of colorectal cancer. This study was conducted among patients aged 50 years or more and with five or more years of colorectal cancer-free initial follow-up. The study included 4,432 colorectal cancer patients and 44,292 control subjects.

The study found:
(a) Those who had been taking statins for five or more years had a 10% increased risk of colorectal cancer compared to non-users of statins.
(b) Those who had been taking statins for ten years had a 30% increased risk of colorectal cancer compared to non-users of statins.