Association between statins’ exposure with incidence and prognosis of gastric cancer: an updated meta‐analysis

ABSTRACT

Background and aims

Previous research has revealed the role of statins in cancer prevention and treatment. This study aimed to determine the relationship between statins’ exposure and the incidence and prognosis of gastric cancer (GC).

Methods

Relevant articles until January 2022 were systematically searched in PubMed, EBSCO, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases for comparison in GC with or without statins’ exposure. The primary referred outcomes were the occurrence of GC and the survival rate. A total of 19 articles were included in this meta-analysis.

Results

The analysis showed that statins were associated with reduced GC incidence and increased GC survival rate. Subgroup analysis suggested a decreased incidence of GC in both Eastern and Western countries exposed to statins. Furthermore, the risk of GC was reduced in those exposed to lipophilic statins, yet not in those exposed to hydrophilic statins.

Conclusions

Statins were found to help lower the incidence and improve the survival rate of GC. Furthermore, the incidence of GC was influenced by the population’s origin region and the type of statins used.

KEYWORDS:

• Gastric cancer
• statins
• risk
• prognosis
• meta-analysis

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Ethics approval

This study did not require ethical approval since it was a review of published articles, and did not directly involve the use of human or animal subjects.

Author contributions

L Guan designed the research process. D Lou and R Fu searched the database for corresponding articles. R Fu and D Lou extracted useful information from the articles above. L Gu used statistical software for analysis. D Lou and L Gu drafted the meta-analysis. H Su, L Guan and D Lou polished this article. All authors had read and approved the manuscript and ensured that this was the case.

Data availability statement

The datasets supporting this article’s conclusions are included within the article and its additional files.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17512433.2022.2112178

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.