Uninterrupted statin therapy was associated with a lower risk of incident heart failure in women with breast cancer receiving anthracycline chemotherapy (HR 0.3; 95% CI 0.1-0.9; p=0.03).
Cohort (n=628)
Does uninterrupted statin therapy reduce incident heart failure hospitalization in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer receiving anthracycline chemotherapy?
Continuous statin therapy is associated with a significantly lower risk of incident heart failure in women receiving anthracycline chemotherapy for breast cancer.
Hazard Ratio: 0.3 (95% CI 0.1–0.9)
p-value: p=0.03
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of continuous statin treatment on new-onset heart failure (HF) in patients with breast cancer receiving anthracycline-based chemotherapy. BACKGROUND: In vitro and animal model experimental studies have reported that statins prevent doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity. METHODS: A total of 628 women with newly diagnosed breast cancer (mean age 51.5 ± 10.8 years) treated with anthracycline were retrospectively identified and studied. The primary outcome (incident HF hospitalization) was compared in propensity-matched patients receiving uninterrupted statin therapy through the follow-up period of 2.55 ± 1.68 years and their counterparts not receiving continuous statin therapy. RESULTS: After propensity matching (2:1), the 67 patients (10.7%) receiving uninterrupted statin therapy were combined with 134 controls. New-onset HF was observed in 67 of the 201 matched patients. Multivariate-matched Cox regression analysis showed a significantly lower hazard ratio HR of 0.3 (95% confidence interval CI: 0.1 to 0.9; p = 0.03) for patients taking uninterrupted statin therapy. Cardiotoxicity risk factors at the time of cancer diagnosis (HR: 5.0; 95% CI: 2.2 to 11.1; p < 0.001), baseline ejection fraction <55% (HR: 2.7; 95% CI: 1.2 to 6.3; p = 0.02), and trastuzumab use (HR: 3.0; 95% CI: 1.3 to 7.2; p = 0.01) were predictors of incident HF. CONCLUSIONS: In this analysis of female patients with breast cancer treated with anthracycline chemotherapy, statin use was associated with a lower risk for incident HF. This finding is consistent with prior animal studies and warrants further investigation through prospective randomized clinical trials.
“To date, there has been limited evidence supporting the safety and effectiveness of large-scale use of cardioprotective medications for patients with early stage breast cancer. Angiotensin antagonists and beta blockers have only shown modest cardioprotective effects in clinical trials, and these medicines are sometimes poorly tolerated in this population given their side effects of fatigue and dizziness, which many patients already have from their cancer therapies or the cancer itself. Our results suggest that taking statins is associated with a significantly lower risk of developing heart failure requiring hospital-based care among women with early stage breast cancer who received one of these cancer therapies.”
Seicean et al. (Wed,) conducted a cohort in Breast cancer receiving anthracycline chemotherapy (n=628). Continuous statin therapy vs. No continuous statin therapy was evaluated on Incident heart failure hospitalization (HR 0.3, 95% CI 0.1-0.9, p=0.03). Uninterrupted statin therapy was associated with a lower risk of incident heart failure in women with breast cancer receiving anthracycline chemotherapy (HR 0.3; 95% CI 0.1-0.9; p=0.03).