Statins and the Risk of Gastric, Colorectal, and Esophageal Cancer Incidence and Mortality: a Cohort Study Based on Data From the Korean National Health Insurance Claims Database

Abstract Background: This study investigated the association between the use of statins, the incidence of gastric, colorectal, and esophageal cancers, and mortality in South Korea.Methods: We compared patients aged 45-70 years statin users for at least 6 months to non-statin users matched by age and sex, during 2005 to June 2013 using the National Health Insurance database Main outcomes were gastric, colorectal, and esophageal cancer incidence and mortality. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to calculate the adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Results: Out of 1,008,101 people, 21,454 incident cancers and 4,031 cancer deaths occurred. The aHRs for the association between the risk of cancers and statin use were 0.71 (95% CI 0.67-0.75) for gastric cancer, 0.73 (95% CI 0.69-0.78) for colorectal cancer, and 0.56 (95% CI 0.44-0.71) for esophageal cancer. There were associations between statin use and decreased gastric cancer mortality (HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.62-0.85), and colorectal cancer mortality (HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.57-0.80), whereas no significant association for esophageal cancer mortality. Discussion: Statin use for at least 6 months was significantly associated with a lower risk of cancer incidence and cancer mortality after a diagnosis of stomach cancer and colorectal cancer.