Impact of Statin Use on Recurrence or Survival After Surgical Curative Resection of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Statins are known for their anticancer effects, and many studies have shown the effectiveness of statins for cancer prevention and improvement of cancer-related long-term oncologic outcome. However, their effectiveness on recurrence or survival of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after curative resection remains unknown. This was a retrospective cohort study that assessed the medical records of patients who were diagnosed with NSCLC and treated with curative resection at a tertiary care hospital between August 2003 and July 2012. The primary outcome was the comparison of postoperative overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) between the statin group of patients, who were administered statins at least 1 month before the surgery and continued it after the surgery, and the nonstatin group of patients, who were not administered statins. Propensity score (PS) matching was used to balance the 2 groups, and the analysis was performed using a Cox proportional hazards model. In total, 994 patients with NSCLC were included in the final analysis: 135 patients in the statin group and 859 patients in the nonstatin group. After PS matching, there was no significant difference in postoperative recurrence (P = .862) or death (P = .074) between the statin group and the nonstatin group. Similarly, there was no significant difference in postoperative RFS (P = .862) and OS (P = .072) between the 2 groups after PS matching. This study demonstrated that statin administration had no significant association with recurrence or survival after NSCLC treatment.