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

Objectives: Numerous studies addressed the effect of statin on cancer patients. The aim of this study is to define theeffect of statin administration with chemotherapy on the patients’ outcomes. Methods: We retrospectively researchedthe database of the University of Cincinnati cancer to identify lung cancer patients who received statins (S+, n=41)during their treatment in our institute. We also, retrieved data for contemporaneously treated patients who did notreceive statins (S-, n=159) as a control arm. Clinico-demographical data and overall survival (OS) were analyzed usingPearson’s Chi-square (χ2) test and Kaplan-Meier survival curves with Log-rank test. Adjustment using Cox proportionalhazard ratios (HR) were done based on (age, gender, race and stage) to identify effect of statins on their outcomes.Results: The median age for S+ was 64y (IQR; 55-69) and 71.2% of the patients were white. Histopathology was55.4% and 31.7% for adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, respectively. Fifty-six percent were stage IV ineach study arm and the median OS was14.9 m. Median OS was insignificantly lower in S–ve arm (13.7 vs 15.6 months;P=0.652, HR=0.91, 95%CI 0.52-1.57). Our results show that after different types of adjustments, S+ did not showsurvival advantage (P>0.05) compared to the control arm. Conclusion: While showing an increase in overall survivalin patients with advanced lung cancer, the results of this study did not reach statistical significance. This could be duefor the small sample size of this retrospective study.