Evaluation of the Association Between Statin Exposure and Skin Cancer: A Nationwide Case-Control Study in South Korea.

Background: Several studies have reported the association between statin use and skin cancer; however, the results have been conflicting. Furthermore, no large-scale studies have reported the relationship between statin exposure and skin cancer in Asian countries.

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between statin exposure and skin cancer in Korea.

Methods and material: This nationwide population-based case-control study used data from the National Health Insurance Service database between 2007 and 2018. We enrolled 109,327 patients in the skin cancer group and extracted 109,327 controls using 1:1 propensity score matching. Data on statin exposure within 5 years were collected, and multivariable-adjusted conditional logistic regression analysis was performed.

Results: Statin exposure was present in 29.6% of patients in the skin cancer group and 22.3% of patients in the control group, with a statistically significant difference between the two groups. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval [CI]) for the association between statin exposure and skin cancer was 1.71 (1.67-1.75). All types of statins, especially lipophilic statins (adjusted OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.54-1.62), were associated with skin cancer. However, the association with skin cancer was not statistically significantly different between lipophilic and hydrophilic statins. Subgroup analyses according to age, sex and comorbidity showed a significant association between statin exposure and skin cancer, regardless of subgroup.

Conclusions: Our study revealed an association between statin exposure and skin cancer in Korea.