Previous Exposure to Statin May Reduce the Risk of Subsequent Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Nationwide Population-Based Case-Control Study

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between previous exposure to statins and the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). METHODS This nationwide population-based case-control study was conducted using the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan. The NHL group consisted of the patients with a first-time diagnosis of NHL between 2005 and 2008. The cases of the control group were pair-matched to the NHL group according to sex, year of birth and date of NHL diagnosis (index date). The statin administration data from both groups were retrospectively collected from the index date to January 1, 1996. The cumulative defined daily dose (cDDD) was estimated to evaluate the statin exposure. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS The study population was composed of 1715 NHL patients and 16942 control subjects. The analysis revealed that previous statin administration was associated with a reduced risk of subsequent NHL with an adjusted OR of 0.52 (95% CI, 0.43-0.62). Additionally, there was a dose-response relationship between statin administration and the risk of NHL. The adjusted ORs were 0.63 (95% CI, 0.46-0.86), 0.58 (95% CI, 0.42-0.79), 0.51 (95% CI, 0.38-0.67), and 0.36 (95% CI, 0.24-0.53) for the subjects with statin administrations of fewer than 28, 28 to 90, 91 to 365, and more than 365 cDDDs, respectively, relative to the subjects without any statin administration. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study suggest that previous statin administration is associated with a lower risk of subsequent NHL. As statins are widely used medications, the magnitude of the risk reduction may have a substantial influence on public health. Further studies to confirm our findings are warranted.