About the benefits of cholesterol
Cholesterol linked to lower breast cancer risk
Anna Kerman, XX2 century, based on the materials of MedicalNewsToday: High cholesterol diagnosis tied to lower breast cancer risk
After analyzing the data that has been collected for 14 years, scientists have come to the conclusion that women with high cholesterol have a lower risk of developing breast cancer than those whose cholesterol levels are at normal levels.
The results of the work were presented at the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (European Society of Cardiology) in Barcelona, Spain, and published in the publication European Heart Journal.
Breast cancer, as its name implies, is a group of oncological diseases that begin with abnormal growth of breast tissue.
Although sometimes breast cancer develops in men, most often its victims are women. Among women, breast cancer (breast cancer) is considered the most common form of cancer. In terms of the frequency of deaths, it is in fifth place among other forms of cancer. In 2012, 1.7 million new cases of breast cancer were registered worldwide – this is almost a quarter of all cases of cancer in women.
All animal cells need cholesterol for normal functioning, since cholesterol is part of the cell membranes. It is also necessary for the synthesis of vitamin D, compounds involved in digestion, and hormones. In the body, cholesterol spreads with the blood flow, being "packed" in lipoproteins, fat droplets surrounded by protein.
Although cholesterol is necessary for the human body, excess of this compound is a known cardiovascular risk factor associated with the development of heart attacks and strokes. The authors of the new work note that – according to the results of some studies – high cholesterol may also be a risk factor for cancer.
"Previously, we identified a link between high cholesterol concentrations and the development of breast cancer, so we developed a special study design that would allow us to collect information over a long time. This was necessary in order to closely study the discovered connection," says senior author of the study Dr. Rahul Potluri.
Dr. Potluri and his colleagues used data obtained during the Algorithm for Comorbidities, Associations, Length of Stay and Mortality (ACALM) study. First, scientists selected information about women aged 40 and older. At the time of entering the study, these women had normal or elevated cholesterol levels and were not diagnosed with breast cancer.
In total, the new study included data on 16,043 women with high cholesterol and a similar number of women in whose blood cholesterol was present in normal amounts. The average age of the participants was 66 years.
After analyzing the data collected over 14 years, the researchers found that breast cancer developed in 0.5% of cases in the first group, and in 0.8% in the second. Further analysis showed that high cholesterol is associated with a 1.5-fold reduction in the risk of breast cancer.
Interestingly, deaths were also less frequently recorded in the group with elevated cholesterol levels – 13.8% of participants died or died during the study, while in the control group this figure was 23.7%. After scientists took into account concomitant factors (for example, age and ethnicity), it turned out that high cholesterol was associated with a 1.67-fold reduction in the risk of premature death.
According to the authors of the new work, this large-scale long-term retrospective study demonstrates that high cholesterol "has a pronounced protective effect in the context of the risk of developing breast cancer." However, additional scientific work will be required to clarify the mechanisms underlying the discovered connection. In the meantime, scientists suggest that taking statins prescribed to lower cholesterol or leading a healthier lifestyle could play a role.
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06.09.2017