Nineteen case-control studies (n=100,129 cancer cases) were included in the review.
The odds of cancer were statistically significantly lower with statins compared with control (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.89; 19 studies). Sensitivity analysis revealed that the results were statistically significant for abstracts (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.49 to 0.81), but not for papers (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.61 to 1.04).
Subgroup analysis showed that statins offered a statistically significantly protective effect compared with control for colon cancer (OR 0.89, 9%% CI 0.82 to 0.97; seven studies), but the results were not significant for lung cancer, prostate cancer and breast cancer.
There was no evidence of publication bias.