Postmenopausal women who use statins have the same risk of breast cancer as those who do not, according to a new study.
Using a group of 156,351 women from the Women's Health Initiative study, Jane A. Cauley, Dr.P.H., from the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues examined use of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins and risk of invasive breast cancer. After an average follow-up of 6.7 years, they identified 4,383 invasive breast cancers.
The authors found that when all statins were considered together, statin use did not affect a person's risk of invasive breast cancer. Use of a type of statins, known as hydrophobic statins, was associated with an 18% decreased risk of breast cancer.
"Future studies of statins and breast cancer should assess associations with individual statins or statin categories because [statin] class differences may exist," the authors write.
Contact: Jim Swyers, 412-586-9773, swyersjp@upmc.edu
Mathematical Graph Can Accurately Predict Prostate Cancer Recurrence a Decade After Prostate Removal
A graph used to calculate prostate cancer recurrence, called a nomogram, makes accurate predictions about recurrence up to ten years after removal of the prostate gland, according to a new study.
Michael W. Kattan, Ph.D., of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, and colleagues tested a nomogram's ability to predict prostate cancer recurrence in 1,545 patients treated for prostate cancer. The results showed that the model slightly overpredicted that patients would not have recurring cancer (at 8 years, the model predicted recurrence free progression of 70-85%, versus 57-72% observed), but on the whole was an accurate predictor for prostate cancer recurrence.
Contact: Raquel Santiago, 216-444-4235, santiar@ccf.org
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Contact: Ariel Whitworth
jncimedia@oxfordjournals.org
301-841-1287
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
16-May-2006