El–Refai SM, et al. – This study examined the link between statins and the risk for cancer–associated deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). Findings demonstrated that statins had a small protective impact in some cancers for DVT or PE compared to no treatment and little difference compared to an active control group. Additionally, researchers reported consistent lack of effect across statins and it was also not found for any of the sensitivity analyses included.

Methods

• In a healthcare claims database (2010-2013), patients with newly diagnosed cancer were followed for up to one year.
• Three treatment groups included statin users, non-statin cholesterol lowering medication users, and an untreated group with pre-existing indications for statin therapy (hyperlipidemia, diabetes, or heart disease).
• Propensity score matched groups were compared using competing risks survival models for DVT and PE outcomes reporting the hazard ratios (HR) between the treatment groups.
• Influence of age and individual medications was assessed by sensitivity analyses.

Results

• Data reported that the total cohort included 170,459 patients, which, after matching, were similar on baseline characteristics.
• Researchers noted that the overall model demonstrated a statistically significant protective effect for statins compared to no treatment attributed only to leukemia for DVT (HR = 0.77, 95% CI 0.61–0.99) and colorectal cancers for PE (HR = 0.80, 95% CI 0.64–0.99) in stratified analyses.
• Findings demonstrated that there were generally no differences in outcomes between statins and non-statins and no individual statin use showed results different from the class effect.