Statin-use may make PSA tests ineffective

The use of statins may make prostate cancer tests deliver false results, according to a study conducted by the US Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Duke University School of Medicine, that was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The study of 1,214 men who were prescribed statins found a sharp drop in the levels of prostate-specific antigens in the blood. The researchers saw a median decline in PSA of 4.1% and a 27.5% median decline of low-density lipoprotein in the participants, both of which were statistically-significant changes. Moreover, men with higher initial PSA levels had, on average, larger declines after starting on statins than those who had low initial PSA levels; the PSA declines correlated with the magnitude of the LDL decrease. Specifically, among men most likely to be under consideration for prostate biopsy (pre-statin PSA levels