Statins linked to lower risk of colorectal cancer in patients with ulcerative colitis

The protective effect was directly proportional to the length of time the patient had been on statins and could be demonstrated after two years’ treatment. There were also fewer deaths from colorectal cancer in the statin group than in the non-statin group during the study period, and deaths regardless of cause.

The study shows that some 200 IBD patients need to be treated with statins to avoid one case of colorectal cancer or death from the cancer within ten years of treatment onset. The protective effect was only statistically valid for patients with ulcerative colitis. Statins were linked to fewer deaths in both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease patients.

Reference: “Statin use and risk of colorectal cancer in patients with inflammatory bowel disease”, Jiangwei Sun, Jonas Halfvarson, David Bergman, Fahim Ebrahimi, Bjorn Roelstraete, Paul Lochhead, Mingyang Song, Ola Olén, Jonas F. Ludvigsson, eClinicalMedicine, online 24 August 2023, DOI :10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102182.