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Common pills taken by tens of millions of Americans may lower risk of liver cancer by a third, study finds
Cholesterol-lowering pills used by tens of millions of Americans may slash the risk of developing a common cancer, a study suggests.
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland found those who took cholesterol-absorption inhibitors had an up to 31 percent reduced risk of liver cancer.
For those who took statins, they found there was an up to 35 percent reduced risk of the same disease.
Combined, the number of people in the US taking statins and cholesterol-absorption inhibitors such as Zetia is 54million.
Previous research has also suggested taking statins may lower the risk of developing 20 types of cancer, including breast, liver, stomach and bowel cancer.
Available on prescription and sold under brand names like Zetia, choloestrol-absorption inhibitiros are often given to those who can't take statins (Stock image)
Writing in the paper published in the journal Cancer, the researchers suggested the drug may reduce levels of inflammation in the liver, which could reduce damage to cells.
Researchers analyzed data on 3,719 patients who had liver cancer matched to 14,876 people who did not develop the condition.
Patients were 69 years old on average, 70 percent were male and they were more likely to be obese, have type 2 diabetes and alcohol-related disorders than the general population.
The patients were asked whether they had taken any one of six cholesterol lowering drugs — including bile acid sequestrants (another statin alternative), fibrates, niacin (which also lower cholesterol), Omega-3 fatty acids and statins.
Statins, cholesterol-absorption inhibitiros, Bile acid sequestrants and fibrates are all drugs that can help to lower cholesterol levels in humans.
Most people are prescribed statins, but for those who cannot take the drugs — possibly due to liver or muscle disease — they may instead be offered an alternative.
Niacin, or Vitamin B, and Omega-3 fatty acids, can also help to lower cholesterol — according to some studies.
After adjusting for factors such as sex, body weight, smoking status and diabetes, the researchers found those who took cholesterol-absorption inhibitiors had a lower risk of liver cancer.
Those taking other drugs — except Omega-3 fatty acids — were found to have a higher risk of the cancer, but experts said this may be linked to other factors.
Having high cholesterol levels can raise the risk of suffering from liver cancer because they leave patients more likely to have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
This raises the risk of scarring and inflammation to the liver, which makes it more likely some cells within it may turn cancerous.
Dr Katherine McGlynn, a cancer epidemiologist from NIH involved in the study, said: 'As few studies have examined the effects of non-statin cholesterol-lowering drugs on liver cancer risk, the results of our study require replication in other populations.
'If our findings are confirmed in other studies, however, our results may inform liver cancer prevention research.'
The data was extracted from the British database Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), a primary care database which covers about seven percent of Britons.
Liver cancer is the sixth most common in the world due to hepatitis B and C infections — which are responsible for 78 percent of cases.
But it is much less common in the US because of its vaccination drive.
About 41,600 new cases are diagnosed every year, while there are also 29,800 deaths from the cancer.
The cancer has a high fatality rate because it may not be detected until later stages, when it is harder to treat.