ArticleBMJ open2012
Discontinuation of statin therapy in older people: does a cancer diagnosis make a difference? An observational cohort study using data linkage.
Article in BMJ open, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Discontinuation of Preventive Medicines in Older People with Limited Life Expectancy: A Systematic Review.Drugs & aging · 2017Pooled it
- Reducing potentially inappropriate medications in palliative cancer patients: evidence to support deprescribing approaches.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2014Pooled it
- Trial
- Postdiagnosis Statin Use and Breast Cancer Mortality.JAMA network open · 2025Observational
- The potential for deprescribing in a palliative oncology patient population: a cross-sectional study.European journal of hospital pharmacy : science and practice · 2023Article
- Statins and Cancer Prevention-Association Does Not Mean Causation.Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2023Article
- Rhabdomyolysis Induced by the Interaction Between Ribociclib and Statins- Case Report and Literature Review.Breast cancer (Dove Medical Press) · 2023Article
- Factors Associated with Discontinuation of Statin Therapy in Patients with Lymphoma Aged 80 Years and Older: A Retrospective Single-Institute Study.Drugs - real world outcomes · 2022Article
- How many older adults receive drugs of questionable clinical benefit near the end of life? A cohort study.Palliative medicine · 2019Article
- Missed opportunities: unnecessary medicine use in patients with lung cancer at the end of life - an international cohort study.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2018Article
- Patterns of statin initiation and continuation in patients with breast or colorectal cancer, towards end-of-life.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2017Article
- Article
- Recommendations to support deprescribing medications late in life.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2015Article
- Are metformin, statin and aspirin use still associated with overall mortality among colorectal cancer patients with diabetes if adjusted for one another?British journal of cancer · 2015Article
- Evidence-based deprescribing of statins in patients with advanced illness.JAMA internal medicine · 2015Article
- Statins and cancers.Contemporary oncology (Poznan, Poland) · 2015Review
- Prevalence and factors associated with polypharmacy in older people with cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2014Article
- Inappropriate prescribing in patients accessing specialist palliative day care services.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2014Article
- The use and impact of cancer medicines in routine clinical care: methods and observations in a cohort of elderly Australians.BMJ open · 2014Article
- Patients with advanced lung cancer: is there scope to discontinue inappropriate medication?International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issuedCorrection.2013
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThe aim was to examine statin discontinuation rates in a cohort of elderly Australians with newly diagnosed cancer using population-based secondary health data.
designObservational cohort study.
settingNew South Wales, the largest jurisdiction in Australia. The Pharmaceutical Benefits and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Schemes are national programmes subsidising prescription drugs to the Australian population and Australian Government Department of Veterans' Affairs clients.
participantsThe cohort comprised 1731 cancer patients aged ≥65 years with evidence of statin use in the 90 days prior to diagnosis. They were matched to 3462 non-cancer patients prescribed statins in the same period.
main outcome measureThe authors compared statin discontinuation rates up to 4 years post-diagnosis and examined the factors associated with statin discontinuation.
resultsThe proportion of cancer patients discontinuing statin therapy at 4 years (27%) was comparable to the comparison cohort; however, significantly higher proportions of the cancer cohort discontinued statins than the comparison cohort at 3, 6 and 12 months of follow-up (9.7% vs 7.4% at 12 months, respectively). More than 30% of cancer patients who died were dispensed statins within 30 days of death. Discontinuation of statin therapy in cancer patients was associated with regionalised and distant disease spread at diagnosis (p<0.001), older age (p=0.006), upper gastrointestinal organs and liver cancer (aHR 2.95, 95% CI 1.92 to 4.53) and cancer of the lung, bronchus and trachea (aHR 1.99, 95% CI 1.32 to 3.00) and poorer survival.
conclusionsMedications should be rationalised at the time of a cancer diagnosis, especially in the setting of a poor prognosis. At least for some patients in our cohort, statin therapy may be inappropriately continued which adds unnecessarily to therapeutic burden.
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