The effects of cholesterol lowering with simvastatin on cause-specific mortality and on cancer incidence in 20,536 high-risk people: a randomised placebo-controlled trial [ISRCTN48489393]

Table 3 Effect of simvastatin allocation on site-specific cancer incidence

Cancer site	Simvastatin-allocated (10,269)	Placebo-allocated (10,267)	Event rate ratio (& 95% CI)	P-value
Respiratory
Lung/larynx	171 (1.7%)	157 (1.5%)	1.08 (0.87 – 1.34)
Other	8 (0.1%)	10 (0.1%)	0.79 (0.32 – 2.00)
Subtotal: Respiratory	179 (1.7%)	167 (1.6%)	1.06 (0.86 – 1.31)	0.6
Gastrointestinal
Upper GI	74 (0.7%)	62 (0.6%)	1.18 (0.84 – 1.65)
Colon/rectum	114 (1.1%)	131 (1.3%)	0.86 (0.67 – 1.11)
Other	41 (0.4%)	33 (0.3%)	1.23 (0.78 – 1.94)
Subtotal: Gastrointestinal	228 (2.2%)	223 (2.2%)	1.01 (0.84 – 1.22)	0.9
Connective tissue
Female breast	38 (1.5%)	51 (2.0%)	0.74 (0.49 – 1.12)
Melanoma	17 (0.2%)	10 (0.1%)	1.66 (0.78 – 3.54)
Other	5 (0.0%)	7 (0.1%)	0.71 (0.23 – 2.20)
Subtotal: Connective tissue	60 (0.6%)	68 (0.7%)	0.87 (0.62 – 1.24)	0.4
Genitourinary
Renal	23 (0.2%)	22 (0.2%)	1.04 (0.58 – 1.86)
Bladder	74 (0.7%)	90 (0.9%)	0.81 (0.60 – 1.11)
Prostate	145 (1.9%)	145 (1.9%)	0.99 (0.79 – 1.25)
Gynaecological	19 (0.7%)	18 (0.7%)	1.05 (0.55 – 2.00)
Other	6 (0.1%)	6 (0.1%)	0.99 (0.32 – 3.08)
Subtotal: Genitourinary	259 (2.5%)	272 (2.6%)	0.94 (0.80 – 1.12)	0.5
Haematological
Leukaemia/lymphoma	42 (0.4%)	32 (0.3%)	1.30 (0.82 – 2.05)
Other	23 (0.2%)	23 (0.2%)	0.99 (0.55 – 1.76)
Subtotal: Haematological	64 (0.6%)	52 (0.5%)	1.22 (0.85 – 1.75)	0.3
Other & unspecified	54 (0.5%)	57 (0.6%)	0.94 (0.65 – 1.36)	0.7
ALL CANCERS*	814 (7.9%)	803 (7.8%)	1.00 (0.91 – 1.11)	0.9

* Prespecified that analyses of cancer incidence were to exclude non-melanoma skin cancer (243 [2.4%] simvastatin-allocated versus 202 [2.0%] placebo-allocated; p = 0.06).

ISSN: 1741-7015