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Statin use and risk of glioma: population-based case–control analysis

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Abstract

Statins have been reported to decrease the incidence of cancer, but the risk of glioma among statin users has been investigated in only two prior observational studies, both of them suggesting a modest protective effect of statins. We conducted a matched case–control study using data from the UK-based Clinical Practice Research Datalink to analyse use of statins among 2469 cases with glioma and 24,690 controls. We performed conditional logistic regression analysis to calculate relative risks, estimated as odds ratios (ORs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) adjusting for multiple confounding factors. As compared with non-use of statins, use of statins was not associated with risk of glioma (OR for ≥90 prescriptions=0.75; 95 % CI 0.48–1.17). Our findings do not support previous sparse evidence of a possible inverse association between statin use and glioma risk.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Pascal Egger for technical support and programming and all members of the KFO 262 for critical discussions regarding our manuscript. This study was sponsored by the German Research Foundation [KFO 262/P10 to C.S and M.F.L.].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology and Wilhelm Sander-NeuroOncology Unit, Regensburg University Hospital, Franz-Josef-Strauss-Allee 11, 93053, Regensburg, Germany

    Corinna Seliger, Ulrich Bogdahn & Peter Hau

  2. Basel Pharmacoepidemiology Unit, Division of Clinical Pharmacy and Epidemiology, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Basel, Spitalstrasse 26, 4031, Basel, Switzerland

    Christoph Rudolf Meier & Claudia Becker

  3. Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany St., Boston, MA, 02118, USA

    Christoph Rudolf Meier & Susan Sara Jick

  4. Hospital Pharmacy, University Hospital Basel, Spitalstrasse 26, 4031, Basel, Switzerland

    Christoph Rudolf Meier

  5. Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Regensburg, Franz-Josef-Strauss-Allee 11, 93053, Regensburg, Germany

    Michael Fred Leitzmann

Authors
  1. Corinna Seliger
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  2. Christoph Rudolf Meier
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  3. Claudia Becker
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  4. Susan Sara Jick
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  5. Ulrich Bogdahn
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  6. Peter Hau
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  7. Michael Fred Leitzmann
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Correspondence to Corinna Seliger.

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Seliger, C., Meier, C.R., Becker, C. et al. Statin use and risk of glioma: population-based case–control analysis. Eur J Epidemiol 31, 947–952 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-016-0145-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-016-0145-7

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