Statins May Decrease Incidence of Advanced Adenomatous Colon Polyps: Presented at ACG

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Title: Statins May Decrease Incidence of Advanced Adenomatous Colon Polyps: Presented at ACG
URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/22E782.htm
Doctor's Guide
October 9, 2008

By Deborah Brauser

ORLANDO, Fla -- October 9, 2008 -- Long-term use of statins reduces the incidence of advanced adenomatous polyps (AP), according to study results presented here in a poster session at the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) 73rd Annual Scientific Meeting.

While reporting the results of this study on October 5, lead investigator Ali Siddiqui, MD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, said, "I think the most exciting part is that we have found a plausible explanation to why statins may decrease the incidence of colorectal cancer, as shown in some previous studies."

"Our study indicates that patients on statins had a decreased incidence of colon polyps on a repeat colonoscopy. But more importantly, they also had a lesser incidence of advanced adenomatous polyps," he noted. "Since advanced adenomatous polyps are at the highest risk to develop into colon cancer, decreasing [their] incidence will theoretically lead to decreased colon cancers."

In their retrospective study, Dr. Siddiqui and colleagues identified 1,060 patients a mean of 64 years old, who had 1 or more confirmed APs on an index colonoscopy and a follow-up colonoscopy 3 to 5 years later. APs found on the follow-up colonoscopy were evaluated for location, size, number, and advanced features.

Patient data were divided into 2 groups: 586 who used statins continuously during the interval between colonoscopies and 474 who were statin-naïve or not on continuous statins during colonoscopy intervals.

Clinical factors were evaluated for their association with advanced APs, and multiple step-wise logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent predictors for advanced APs.

Results show that patients in the continuous-statin group had fewer total numbers of APs (P = .005), fewer advanced APs (P < .01), and smaller mean AP size (P = .04) than those in the nonuser group.

Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that statin use was associated with smaller mean number of polyps (2.6 vs 3.1; P = .002) and a smaller mean polyp size (7.1 vs 7.9 mm; P = .04). Statin users also had a 29% reduced incidence of advanced APs compared to nonusers (odds ratio, 0.71; confidence interval, 0.52-0.96, P = .03).

Dr. Siddiqui said, "I think we were surprised about how strongly the relation was between decreased incidence of [AP] for patients who were on long-term statin medications. This relationship has not been previously reported. And it correlates with the in vitro studies on statins and colon cancer cell lines."

"I think the number 1 take-away point is that statin medications may cut down on the risk of developing colon cancer by decreasing not only the number of polyps that develop, but also the incidence of advanced adenomatous polyps in these subjects. However, we need prospective studies to confirm this," he concluded.

[Presentation title: The Long-Term Use of Statins Is Associated With a Decreased Incidence of Advanced Adenomatous Colon Polyps. Abstract P-366]

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