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).

Heart Protection Study Collaborative Group BMC Medicine 2005 3:6   doi:10.1186/1741-7015-3-6