Women Who Take Statins are 20% Less Likely to Die of Cancer: Cancer Research UK

Statins are drugs that lower cholesterol levels. A new research has revealed that women who take these cholesterol-lowering drugs might have a reduced risk of death caused by cancer.

During a 15-year long study, researchers tracked nearly 150,000 post-menopausal women between 50 and 79 years of age, of whom over 3,100 died of cancer over the period. Researchers said, "We found that women who reported taking statins, drugs that lower cholesterol levels, were 20% less likely to die of cancer during the course of the study, when all cancers were taken into account."

However, researchers said that the study did not prove statins were the reason why people were less likely to die from cancer, and that more research was needed. Richard Roope from the Cancer Research UK said, "It is still not sure if the link shown between a decreased risk of dying from cancer, and statin use, is due to the drugs themselves, or some other reason."

Further studies, including the Cancer Research UK-funded LungStar trial, are exploring whether statins could help treat cancer.

Source: Medindia