title: Association of statin use with pathological tumor characteristics and prostate cancer recurrence after surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Prospective studies suggest that statins protect against advanced stage and possibly high grade prostate cancer. However, few studies have investigated the influence of stains on outcomes in men with prostate cancer. Thus, we evaluated the association of statin use with pathological tumor characteristics and prostate cancer recurrence after prostatectomy in a retrospective cohort.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 2,399 patients of 1 surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital who underwent radical prostatectomy in 1993 to 2006 and had not previously received hormone or radiation therapy were followed for recurrence. The surgeon routinely asked during the preoperative consultation what medications the men were using. Additional information on statin use was obtained from a mailed survey. We estimated the association of statin use with nonorgan confined disease (pT3a/b or N1) and high grade disease (Gleason sum [4 + 3] or greater) using logistic regression (OR), and recurrence using Cox proportional hazards regression (HR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 16.1% of men who used a statin at prostatectomy were statistically significantly less likely to have nonorgan confined disease than nonusers (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.50-0.85). Statin use was inversely associated with high grade disease only in men with preoperative PSA 10 ng/ml or greater (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.13-0.93, p-interaction = 0.02). The HR of recurrence among men who used a statin for 1 year or greater compared to nonusers was 0.77 (95% CI 0.41-1.42).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings support the hypothesis that statin use may protect against prostate cancer with poorer pathological characteristics. We could not rule in or out that longer term statin use may protect against recurrence after prostatectomy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
authors.forename: Alison M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Mondul
authors.forename: Misop
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Elizabeth B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Humphreys
authors.forename: Cari L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Meinhold
authors.forename: Patrick C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Walsh
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Platz
mesh_terms: D015331:Cohort Studies; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors