ArticleCancer research and treatment2021
Association of Insulin, Metformin, and Statin with Mortality in Breast Cancer Patients.
Article in Cancer research and treatment, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Statins and prognosis of female breast cancer: a meta-analysis.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Impact of statin use on breast cancer recurrence and mortality before and after diagnosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Pooled it
- Cholesterol and Its Derivatives: Multifaceted Players in Breast Cancer Progression.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Pooled it
- Toxicological profile of anti-diabetic drugs and emerging measures to reduce the toxic burden.Toxicology reports · 2026Review
- Correlation between insulin receptor expression and tumor cell proliferation, recurrence and metastasis in well-differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms.Endocrine connections · 2025Article
- Repurposing of Metabolic Drugs Metformin and Simvastatin as an Emerging Class of Cancer Therapeutics.Pharmaceutical research · 2025Review
- RETRACTED: Metformin and Breast Cancer: Where Are We Now?International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Potential intrinsic subtype dependence on the association between metformin use and survival in surgically resected breast cancer: a Korean national population-based study.International journal of clinical oncology · 2021Article
- Statins: a repurposed drug to fight cancer.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeThis study investigated the association of insulin, metformin, and statin use with survival and whether the association was modified by the hormone receptor status of the tumor in patients with breast cancer. MATERIALS AND
methodsWe studied 7,452 patients who had undergone surgery for breast cancer at Seoul National University Hospital from 2008 to 2015 using the nationwide claims database. Exposure was defined as a recorded prescription of each drug within 12 months before the diagnosis of breast cancer.
resultsPatients with prior insulin or statin use were more likely to be older than 50 years at diagnosis and had a higher comorbidity index than those without it (p < 0.01 for both). The hazard ratio (HR) for death with insulin use was 5.7 (p < 0.01), and the effect was attenuated with both insulin and metformin exposure with an HR of 1.2 (p=0.60). In the subgroup analyses, a heightened risk of death with insulin was further prominent with an HR of 17.9 (p < 0.01) and was offset by co-administration of metformin with an HR of 1.3 (p=0.67) in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer. Statin use was associated with increased overall mortality only in patients with ER-positive breast cancer with HR for death of 1.5 (p=0.05).
conclusionInsulin or statin use before the diagnosis of breast cancer was associated with an increase in all-cause mortality. Subsequent analyses suggested that metformin or statin use may have been protective in patients with ER-negative disease, which warrants further studies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.