Statins do not cut prostate cancer risk

WATERTOWN, Mass., Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Statin, a drug that lowers cholesterol and is prescribed to prevent heart disease, may not cut the risk of developing prostate cancer, found a U.S. study.

Cholesterol is required to help produce male hormones such as testosterone and researchers had theorized that statins may reduce production of these hormones, and a recent study found men using statin drugs appeared to lower the risk of developing metastatic or fatal prostate cancer.

To determine if statin use reduces androgen -- male hormone -- concentrations in the blood the researchers examined data of 1,812 men, including 237 statin users, from the Boston Area Community Health survey, a population-based, epidemiologic study from 2002 to 2005

Study author Susan A. Hall of the New England Research Institutes in Watertown, Mass., found no relationship between statin use and free testosterone and most of the other associated compounds.

There was a significant association between statin use and level of total testosterone in the blood, but that association disappeared when the patients’ age, body weight and history of heart disease and diabetes was factored in, found the study published in the Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.