BOSTON, July 24 (UPI) -- Many U.S. adults take drugs to lower cholesterol, but there is evidence that low low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels may raise cancer risk.
The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found one additional incident of cancer per 1,000 patients with low LDL levels when compared to patients with higher LDL levels.
In their evaluation of randomized controlled statin trials published before November 2005, the researchers looked at 13 treatment arms consisting of 41,173 patients.
"This analysis doesn't implicate the statin in increasing the risk of cancer," lead author Dr. Richard H. Karas, professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, said in a statement. "The demonstrated benefits of statins in lowering the risk of heart disease remain clear; however, certain aspects of lowering LDL with statins remain controversial and merit further research."
Large-scale statin trials have shown that more intensive LDL lowering can provide significant cardiovascular benefits to higher-risk patients.
The findings are not definitive, according to Karas.
