Efficacy of chemopreventive agents on overall survival in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Background Previous studies on statins’ effect on survival of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) report conflicting results Aims To evaluate the association between statin use and PDAC patients’ survival. Methods A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed including case-control, cohort studies and randomized controlled trials assessing the association between statin use and survival in PDAC patients. Pooled HRs with 95%CIs were calculated using random effects model; publication bias was assessed through Begg and Mazumdar test and heterogeneity by I2 value. Results 14 studies with 33,137 PDAC patients,40% under statins, were included. Statins use was associated to a reduced death risk (HR 0.871; 95%CI: 0.819;0.927; p= 0.0001) suggesting a protective effect, homogeneous for different geographic areas. This effect was significant in surgically resected patients (HR 0.50; 95%CI: 0.32;0.76; p=0.001) but not in those with advanced disease (HR 0.78; 95%CI: 0.59;1.02; p=0.07). In studies providing information on statin type, only rosuvastatin resulted associated to a reduced risk of death (HR 0.88; 95%CI: 0.81;0.96; p=0.004). Conclusions Statins use is significantly associated with a reduced risk of death in resected PDAC patients. This finding has to be considered with caution due to publication bias and the availability of only few studies for sensitivity analyses.