Impact of statin use on overall and time to biochemical failure following radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy

Objectives To assess the impact of statin use on overall and time to biochemical failure following primary treatment of localized prostate cancer (PCa). Subjects/patients and methods 1581 patients undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP) or radiation therapy (RT) for primary treatment of PCa between July 2007 and January 2020 were evaluated for statin use, demographic/oncologic characteristics, and biochemical outcomes. Rate of biochemical failure (BF) was assessed overall and at 1, 3, and 5 years; time to BF was estimated with Kaplan-Meier. Logistic and linear regression were used to control for treatment modality and disease characteristics. Results The average age was 63.0 +/- 7.5 years and median pre-treatment PSA was 6.55 (IQR 4.94). 1473 (93.2%) and 108 (6.8%) underwent RP and RT, respectively. RP patients were younger, had lower pre-PSA, lower BMI, and lower risk disease. At 3.4 +/- 2.7 years follow-up, 323 (20.4%) experienced BF. When stratified by statin use, BF overall and within 1, 3, and 5 years were not different. Time to BF, was lower in patients using statins (1.8 +/- 1.9 years vs. 2.4 +/- 2.6 years; p = 0.016). These results persisted in multivariate analysis, wherein statin use was not associated with BF but was associated with a shorter time to BF. Conclusion Overall, statin use was not associated with a reduced risk of BF in RP or RT patients. However, for patients with BF, statin use was associated with a decreased time to BF. Future investigations are warranted to further elucidate the impact of statin use on PCa recurrence.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the impact of statin use on prostate cancer recurrence in patients undergoing RP or RT. While statin use was not associated with reduced risk of BF, it was linked to a shorter time to BF in those patients who experienced recurrence. Further research is needed to clarify the effects of statin use on PCa recurrence.