Retrospective Study of the Effect of Statins on the Outcome of Lung Cancer Patients, University of Cincinnati Experience

Abstract

Objectives: Numerous studies addressed the effect of statin on cancer patients. The aim of this study is to define the<br />effect of statin administration with chemotherapy on the patients' outcomes. Methods: We retrospectively researched<br />the database of the University of Cincinnati cancer to identify lung cancer patients who received statins (S+, n=41)<br />during their treatment in our institute. We also, retrieved data for contemporaneously treated patients who did not<br />receive statins (S-, n=159) as a control arm. Clinico-demographical data and overall survival (OS) were analyzed using<br />Pearson's Chi-square (χ2) test and Kaplan-Meier survival curves with Log-rank test. Adjustment using Cox proportional<br />hazard ratios (HR) were done based on (age, gender, race and stage) to identify effect of statins on their outcomes.<br />Results: The median age for S+ was 64y (IQR; 55-69) and 71.2% of the patients were white. Histopathology was<br />55.4% and 31.7% for adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, respectively. Fifty-six percent were stage IV in<br />each study arm and the median OS was14.9 m. Median OS was insignificantly lower in S–ve arm (13.7 vs 15.6 months;<br />P=0.652, HR=0.91, 95%CI 0.52-1.57). Our results show that after different types of adjustments, S+ did not show<br />survival advantage (P>0.05) compared to the control arm. Conclusion: While showing an increase in overall survival<br />in patients with advanced lung cancer, the results of this study did not reach statistical significance. This could be due<br />for the small sample size of this retrospective study.