{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.01740294511378849, 'fraction_numerical': 0.020972780008924587, 'mean_word_length': 5.142465753424657, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Researchers find link between high cholesterol and breast cancer

3429 A study of more than 1 million patients in the United Kingdom has demonstrated an association between high blood cholesterol and breast cancer. Results of the study, which was conducted over the course of 14 years, were presented at the Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology 2014 conference, which was held July 4 through 6, 2014 in Barcelona, Spain. Lead author Rahul Potluri, MBBS, of the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom says that the preliminary study raises the possibility that breast cancer could be prevented with statins but that much more research is needed before the idea can be tested. Previous population studies have suggested an association between obesity and breast cancer, and last year a study in mice found that lowering circulating cholesterol or interfering with its metabolism could be used to treat or prevent breast cancer.1 As a result, Dr. Potluri and his colleagues decided to investigate the possible link between high cholesterol and breast cancer. They conducted a retrospective analysis of more than 1 million patients across the United Kingdom between 2000 and 2013 from the Algorithm for Comorbidities, Associations, Length of Stay and Mortality (ACALM) clinical database. Of the women studied, 22,938 had high cholesterol and 9312 women had breast cancer. Approximately 530 women with high cholesterol developed breast cancer. Using a statistical model to analyze the association between the groups, investigators found that having high cholesterol increased the risk of developing breast cancer by 1.64 times. Dr. Potluri adds that the study was retrospective and observational, and therefore researchers cannot conclude that high cholesterol causes the disease. Nevertheless, he says, the association should be investigated further. What is needed next is a prospective study monitoring the risk of breast cancer in women with and without high cholesterol. If a connection between the 2 groups is confirmed, researchers would then need to determine whether lowering cholesterol with statins can reduce a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. Dr. Potluri says that such a clinical trial could occur in 10 to 15 years.