Chemopreventive Effects of Statins and Aspirin on Colorectal Cancer Among Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Evidence of a Synergistic Association from a Large Cohort.

Publication/Presentation Date

1-1-2025

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) are at an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC). While numerous studies have explored chemoprevention strategies in the general population, the specific roles of statins and aspirin in reducing CRC risk among IBD patients remain inconclusive.

AIM: This study aims to evaluate the effect of statins on CRC risk and investigates whether combining statins and aspirin further reduces CRC risk in this high-risk population.

METHODS: We included 11,325 IBD patients from the Northwell Health Information Exchange (HIE) database (2008-2023). Demographic and clinical variables were collected. The primary endpoint was CRC development, while the secondary endpoint was the occurrence of any cancer. Multivariable logistic regression assessed the association between cancer development and statin use, adjusted for confounders. Subgroup analyses evaluated the combined effect of statins and aspirin compared to non-users and aspirin-only users. Statistical significance was defined as a p-value < 0.05.

RESULTS: Among 11,325 patients (mean age 65.1± 20.4 years, 54.5% females, 68% white), 2,809 (24.8%) used statins. Logistic regression analysis revealed that statin use was associated with lower odds of CRC, although it did not reach statistical significance (OR: 0.647, p = 0.0564). It was, however, significantly associated with a reduced risk of any cancer (OR: 0.630, p< 0.0001). Furthermore, combining statins and aspirin significantly reduced the risk of CRC (OR: 0.163, p=0.0028) and any cancer (OR: 0.367, p< 0.0001) compared to non-users. When compared to aspirin-only users, the statin-aspirin combination was associated with significantly lower odds of CRC (OR: 0.235, p=0.0289) and any cancer (OR: 0.522, p=0.0087).

CONCLUSION: Statins are associated with a reduced risk of any cancer and a potential reduction in CRC in patients with IBD. The combination of statin-aspirin demonstrates a significant and synergistic protective effect, supporting its potential role in chemoprevention strategies for this high-risk population.

Volume

18

First Page

277

Last Page

290

ISSN

1178-7023

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

PubMedID

41230252

Department(s)

Fellows and Residents

Document Type

Article

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