Prognostic Significance of Statin Use in Colorectal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Statin intake has been reported to reduce the risk of several malignancies beyond its cholesterol-lowering effects. However, little is known regarding the survival benefit of statins for patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).We conducted a systematic literature search of multiple databases for studies published before November 2014, which investigated associations between statin intake and CRC prognosis. Meta-analysis was performed using random-effects model. The primary outcomes of interest were all-cause mortality (ACM) and cancer-specific mortality (CSM).Ten studies involving 76,851 patients were eligible for this meta-analysis, with 7 studies investigating prediagnosis statin use and 5 studies reporting postdiagnosis statin use. Prediagnosis statin use was associated with reduced ACM (hazard ratio [HR] 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.61-0.88, P = 0.001) and CSM (HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.77-0.84, P