Breast cancer often associated with obesity could also be linked to high cholesterol according to the results of a study presented at the Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology congress of the European Society of Cardiology.
As previous studies have often highlighted the link between obesity and breast cancer, researchers at ACALM (Associations, Length of stay and Mortality) wanted to understand whether there was a relationship between a high rate of breast cancer. cholesterol and this cancer.
Scientists conducted a retrospective study (ACALM) on one million patients in the UK between 2000 and 2013. Of these patients, 664,159 were women, 22,938 suffered from hyperlipidemia (a high level of lipids in the blood) and 9,312 had a breast cancer. 530 women were diagnosed with both high cholesterol and breast cancer.
Breast cancer could be linked to high cholesterol
Researchers have found that high cholesterol levels increase the risk of developing a disease by 1.64%. breast cancer.
“We found that women with high cholesterol were significantly more at risk of developing breast cancer. As this is an observational study, we cannot conclude that high cholesterol causes breast cancer, but the strength of this association deserves further research “explains Dr Rahul Potluri.
“Our preliminary study suggests that women with high blood cholesterol may be at higher risk for breast cancer. It therefore raises the possibility of preventing breast cancer with statins, a cholesterol-lowering drug. If the link between high cholesterol and breast cancer is validated, the next step would be to see if lowering cholesterol with statins can reduce the risk of developing cancer, ”concludes Dr Rahul Potluri.
According to the Institute for Public Health Surveillance (INVS), breast cancer remains the main cause of cancer mortality in women. It is responsible for nearly 11,000 annual deaths in France and 410,000 worldwide.