ACC 2020: Can Statins Lower the Rate of Heart Failure After Breast Cancer Treatment?
Posted: Friday, April 17, 2020
Although effective, anthracycline and trastuzumab chemotherapy run the risk of cardiotoxicity in patients with early breast cancer. However, emerging research has found a lower risk of heart failure in women with early-stage breast cancer who simultaneously were exposed to statins. Husam Abdel-Qadir, MD, PhD, of Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, Toronto, and colleagues presented their findings at the virtual 2020 American College of Cardiology (ACC) World Congress of Cardiology (Abstract 1157–079) and published them in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
“These data suggest that statins may be a viable intervention to prevent [heart failure] after cardiotoxic chemotherapy and support the need to conduct definitive prospective clinical trials for further study,” commented the investigators.
The researchers explored Canadian medical records from 2007 to 2017 for 2,545 women treated with anthracycline along with 1,345 trastuzumab-treated women. All women were 66 years or older with no history of heart failure and a diagnosis of early-stage breast cancer. A total of 2,545 anthracycline-treated women were matched with 953 anthracycline-treated and statin-exposed women. Additionally, 1,345 trastuzumab-treated women were paired with 568 trastuzumab-treated women who also underwent statin therapy.
Over a 5-year follow-up, women with statin exposure while on either anthracycline or trastuzumab had a lower risk of developing heart failure versus those who did not (58% vs. 66%; respectively). Cumulative incidence functions and hazard ratios were used to evaluate the rate of hospital-treated heart failures. The investigators reported that the cause-specific hazard ratio was 0.42 in the anthracycline cohort and 0.34 in the trastuzumab cohort. Results found that women taking statins during chemotherapy had lower admittance rates to the ER.
“Cardiovascular disease is the leading and competing cause of death among older early-stage breast cancer survivors,” noted study coauthor David Bobrowski, a medical student at the University of Toronto, in an American College of Cardiology press release.
Disclosure: The study authors’ disclosures can be found on www.virtual.acc.20.org.
