Cholesterol Drugs May Protect Prostate, Sex Potency, Study Says
Men taking any of several different statin drugs for their cardiovascular health had a threefold lower chance of being diagnosed with prostate cancer compared with those not taking the drugs, according to a 15-year study of men ages 40 to 79 by the Mayo Clinic of Rochester, Minnesota. Those taking any of the medicines, including Merck & Co.s Zocor and Pfizer Inc.s Lipitor, also had a lower incidence in later years of erectile dysfunction, benign prostate enlargement and urinary problems.
Prostate cancer is the leading malignancy affecting men and the second deadliest, with 186,320 cases and 28,660 deaths in the U.S. in 2008, said the American Cancer Society. The new research may not reflect a true drop in prostate cancer, the authors said, because statins may merely lower the levels of one indicator, prostate specific antigen, rather than cancer itself.
“If you are taking a statin for a heart condition or to lower cholesterol, these studies suggest that statins could have other benefits,” said study author Jennifer St. Sauver, a Mayo Clinic epidemiologist. “Its clear we need more information before men are advised to start taking statins for their urological health.”
The findings, being presented at the American Urological Association meeting in Chicago, came from a long-term observational study of 2,447 men in Olmstead County, Minnesota. Beginning in 1990, the study tracked the varied effects of statin use on mens health as they age, researchers said.
Mixed History
An American Cancer Society official urged caution in interpreting the results, noting that statin cancer studies have a history of mixed results.
“Weve had studies over the course of several years that suggested statins have a protective or preventive effect with respect to certain cancers. Subsequent studies failed to support that observation,” said J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the society in an April 24 telephone interview. “Are there other potential explanations for what youre seeing? There may be an association but not causation.”
A previous study of 1 million people observed by the American Cancer Societys CPS-II research found no effect of statins on cancer, he said.
Funding Disclosed
The Mayo Clinic research was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and by the research unit of Merck, St. Sauver said.
One-third of the 2,447 men in the study were taking one of several statins. Of those, 38 men, or 6 percent, were diagnosed with prostate cancer. Men not taking statins were three times more likely to develop prostate cancer, researchers said.
While previous studies have suggested a link between statins and prostate cancer prevention, St. Sauver said the strength of the association found in the study was a surprise. “Its very strong. I must say we were pretty excited,” she said in an April 24 telephone interview.
Preliminary
The findings are preliminary, said senior author Jeffrey Karnes, a Mayo Clinic urologist. He added that more medical trials are needed to determine whether statins prevent prostate cancer.
“In the United States, one in six men will develop prostate cancer,” Karnes said in a statement. “Far more will develop heart disease. I tell my patients to take care of their heart — because whats good for the heart is also good for the prostate.”
The prostate, a chestnut-shaped gland beneath the bladder that makes semen to transport sperm, is enlarged in one in four men ages 40 to 50 and half of men ages 70 to 80.
Statins are known to lower prostate specific antigen, a protein that is tested in the blood to assess the chance of prostate cancer, St. Sauver said. In this study, statin drugs may have simply lowered PSA so the men were “less likely to go for a biopsy and get a diagnosis of prostate cancer,” rather than actually preventing tumors, she added.
Participants in the study group took an array of different statin drugs, St. Sauver said, with 40 percent being given simvistatin, marketed as Zocor by Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck, and 35 percent taking atorvastatin, marketed as Lipitor by New York-based Pfizer. Others took products such as lovastatin, sold by Merck as Mevacor, and pravastatin, sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. as Pravachol.