Is Statin Use Tied to Skin Cancer Risk?

Men with a longer duration of statin use may have an increased risk for basal cell carcinoma (BCC), according to recent findings.

Researchers reached this conclusion following an assessment of patient data from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. The potential association between statin use and skin cancer risk was examined using Cox proportional hazards regression.

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A total of 10,201 cases of BCC, 1393 cases of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and 333 melanoma cases occurred over the course of follow-up (2000 to 2010). Ultimately, results indicated that statin use was not associated with the risk of BCC (pooled multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.04), SCC (HR 1.08), or melanoma (HR 1.04).

However, the researchers observed a trend toward higher risk of BCC in men with a longer duration of statin use, but not in women.

The researchers noted that high cholesterol levels were not associated with the risk of BCC (HR 1.04), SCC (HR 0.95), or melanoma (HR 0.87).

“History of high cholesterol level was not associated with skin cancer risk,” the researchers concluded. “Longer duration of statin use was associated with a trend toward higher BCC risk in men.”

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Lin BM, Li WQ, Cho E, Curhan GC, Qureshi AA. Statin use and risk of skin cancer. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2018;78(4):682-693. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2017.11.050.