Statin use associated with improved overall and cancer specific survival in patients with head and neck cancer

Abhinav Gupta, William Stokes, Megan Eguchi, Mohammad Hararah, Arya Amini, Adam Mueller, Rustain Morgan, Cathy Bradley, David Raben, Jessica McDermott, Sana D. Karam

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

44 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objectives: Studies have shown the utility of lipid-lowering agents in improving outcomes in various cancers. We aim to explore how statins affect overall survival and cancer specific survival in head and neck cancer patients using population-based datasets. Patients and methods: Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked dataset, we separated HNC patients into three groups: those with no hyperlipidemia (nH), those with hyperlipidemia and not taking a statin (HnS), and those with hyperlipidemia and taking a statin (H + S). Overall survival (OS) and cancer specific survival (CSS) were compared between the three groups based on disease subsite (oral cavity, oropharynx, and other) using Kaplan-Meier and multivariate Cox regression analysis (MVA), controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, staging, treatment, and comorbidity covariates. Using Pearson chi-square analysis, we also compared the incidence of cancer-related toxicity events. Results: There were 495 nH, 567 HnS, and 530 H + S patients. H + S patients had superior OS and CSS (73.0, 81.2%) relative to nH (58.6, 69.1%) and HnS groups (61.7, 69.2%) (p < 0.01). On MVA, H + S patients showed improved OS (p < 0.01) and CSS (p = 0.04) compared to nH (HR = 1.64, 1.56) and HnS (HR = 1.40, 1.37). MVA stratified by subsite yielded similar results for oral cavity and oropharyngeal disease. Toxicity-related events did not differ significantly between the groups. Conclusion: HNC patients with hyperlipidemia and taking a statin demonstrated improved outcomes compared to nH and HnS patients, further supporting statins’ role as a potential adjuvant anti-neoplastic agent in HNC. Further prospective studies to investigate the impact of statins on HNC outcomes are warranted.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)54-66
Number of pages13
JournalOral Oncology
Volume90
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2019

Keywords

  • Clinical study
  • Head and neck cancer
  • Hyperlipidemia
  • Oral cancer
  • Statin

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