A new study out of Harvard Medical School found that women over 50 had a decreased risk of developing ovarian cancer if they were taking a statin. Statins are typically prescribed for people who have high cholesterol, who have had or are at risk for developing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease – and they’re really widely used in the United States. A National Health and Nutrition Examination survey in 2011 and 2012 estimated that 38.6 million Americans were using statins at the time.
Even though statins are widely used to lower blood cholesterol and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, this isn’t the first time they’ve been looked at in relation to cancer. Because of cholesterol’s role in the body, recently doctors have been looking into what role the drugs could play in cancer prevention and treatment. But, according to study authors, this is the first “population-based case-control study to report a reduced risk for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), along with its major histologic subtypes, associated with statin use.”
Read More The Harvard study looked at 2,040 women with EOC and 2,1000 women who didn’t have cancer. Researchers found that the risk of developing ovarian cancer was 32% lower for statin users. The reduction in ovarian cancer risk was most apparent in women who had taken a statin for 2 to more than 4 years. Researchers also found that the benefit of taking a statin to prevent ovarian cancer increased for women who used both a statin and a non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drug, or a statin plus aspirin. There has been a lot of back and fourth about the benefits of aspirin for cancer risk in the past year alone. In a study released last month, researchers said that women who took a daily low-dose aspirin
reduced their risk of developing ovarian cancer by 23%. However, doctors are not yet in a place to proclaim that aspirin can reduce every woman’s risk of developing ovarian cancer – and the risks always need to be considered. The same can be said for the statin study too. As with all new discoveries about
cancer prevention, more research will need to be done before doctors can say anything for sure. It’s also important to note that statins did not show any reduced risk for women under 50 years old, and the risk reduction was only observed in women who were not obese and who did not have diabetes.
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.