Skip to main content
Advertisement
Browse Subject Areas
?

Click through the PLOS taxonomy to find articles in your field.

For more information about PLOS Subject Areas, click here.

  • Loading metrics

Total Serum Cholesterol and Cancer Incidence in the Metabolic Syndrome and Cancer Project (Me-Can)

  • Susanne Strohmaier,

    Affiliation Department of Medical Statistics, Informatics and Health Economics, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

  • Michael Edlinger,

    Affiliation Department of Medical Statistics, Informatics and Health Economics, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

  • Jonas Manjer,

    Affiliation Department of Surgery, Malmö University Hospital, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden

  • Tanja Stocks,

    Affiliations Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Urology and Andrology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden, Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark

  • Tone Bjørge,

    Affiliations Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo/Bergen, Norway

  • Wegene Borena,

    Affiliation Department of Medical Statistics, Informatics and Health Economics, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

  • Christel Häggström,

    Affiliation Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Urology and Andrology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

  • Anders Engeland,

    Affiliations Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo/Bergen, Norway

  • Gabriele Nagel,

    Affiliations Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany, Agency for Preventive and Social Medicine, Bregenz, Austria

  • Martin Almquist,

    Affiliation Department of Surgery, Skåne University Hospital Lund and Lund University, Lund, Sweden

  • Randi Selmer,

    Affiliation Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo/Bergen, Norway

  • Steinar Tretli,

    Affiliation Cancer Registry of Norway, Institute of Population-based Cancer Research, Montebello, Oslo, Norway

  • Hans Concin,

    Affiliation Agency for Preventive and Social Medicine, Bregenz, Austria

  • Göran Hallmans,

    Affiliation Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Nutritional Research, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

  • Håkan Jonsson,

    Affiliation Department of Radiation Sciences, Oncology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

  • Pär Stattin,

    Affiliations Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Urology and Andrology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden, Urology Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, United States of America

  •  [ ... ],
  • Hanno Ulmer

    hanno.ulmer@i-med.ac.at

    Affiliation Department of Medical Statistics, Informatics and Health Economics, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

  • [ view all ]
  • [ view less ]

Abstract

Objective

To investigate the association between total serum cholesterol (TSC) and cancer incidence in the Metabolic syndrome and Cancer project (Me-Can).

Methods

Me-Can consists of seven cohorts from Norway, Austria, and Sweden including 289,273 male and 288,057 female participants prospectively followed up for cancer incidence (n = 38,978) with a mean follow-up of 11.7 years. Cox regression models with age as the underlying time metric were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) for quintiles of cholesterol levels and per 1 mmol/l, adjusting for age at first measurement, body mass index (BMI), and smoking status. Estimates were corrected for regression dilution bias. Furthermore, we performed lag time analyses, excluding different times of follow-up, in order to check for reverse causation.

Results

In men, compared with the 1st quintile, TSC concentrations in the 5th quintile were borderline significantly associated with decreasing risk of total cancer (HR = 0.94; 95%CI: 0.88, 1.00). Significant inverse associations were observed for cancers of the liver/intrahepatic bile duct (HR = 0.14; 95%CI: 0.07, 0.29), pancreas cancer (HR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.33, 0.81), non-melanoma of skin (HR = 0.67; 95%CI: 0.46, 0.95), and cancers of the lymph−/hematopoietic tissue (HR = 0.68, 95%CI: 0.54, 0.87). In women, hazard ratios for the 5th quintile were associated with decreasing risk of total cancer (HR = 0.86, 95%CI: 0.79, 0.93) and for cancers of the gallbladder (HR = 0.23, 95%CI: 0.08, 0.62), breast (HR = 0.70, 95%CI: 0.61, 0.81), melanoma of skin (HR = 0.61, 95%CI: 0.42, 0.88), and cancers of the lymph−/hematopoietic tissue (HR = 0.61, 95%CI: 0.44, 0.83).

Conclusion

TSC was negatively associated with risk of cancer overall in females and risk of cancer at several sites in both males and females. In lag time analyses some associations persisted, suggesting that for these cancer sites reverse causation did not apply.

Introduction

Since the 1980s several epidemiological studies have reported an association between higher total serum cholesterol (TSC) levels and lower overall or site-specific cancer incidence and mortality [1][9], whereas others found higher cancer risk in people with high TSC levels [10][13], no significant relation [14][18], or a U-shaped association, that is both low and high TSC levels being significantly associated with increased cancer risk [19].

It has been suggested that the observed inverse associations have to be attributed to an effect of preclinical cancer or disease on cholesterol levels (i.e. metabolic depression or increased utilization of cholesterol during carcinogenesis [20]) rather than reflecting a true causal relationship. The hypothesis of reverse causation is strongly supported by a recent Mendelian randomization study [21] and by the observation that the inverse associations between high cholesterol levels and cancer risk and mortality weakened or even disappeared when the first few years of study follow-up were excluded [1], [9], [22]. However, some studies found inverse associations with time lags of 4 or even more years between baseline cholesterol level and cancer diagnosis [7], [20], [23], so the possibility that there may be a direct effect of low cholesterol on cancer can still not be completely ruled out.

More recent studies [24], [25] on cholesterol and cancer incidence, including partly data also used in this study [25], added additional evidence for the reverse causation hypothesis again. Nevertheless, relatively modest sample sizes and differences in study populations, length of follow-up, study endpoints and statistical procedures may all have contributed to the lack of consistency in results of previous studies.

Assessment of cholesterol levels on a single occasion results in a substantial random error due to variability in the measurement process or real but short-term biological variability. Such inaccuracy in exposure measurement may lead to underestimation [26] of the risk factor outcome association through the so called regression dilution bias. Prospective studies on metabolic factors and risk of cardiovascular disease, which utilized repeated exposure measurement to apply methods to correct for regression dilution bias, presented stronger associations than those based on single baseline measured exposures [27][29].

Motivated by the inconsistency in the literature and the failure to account for regression dilution, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between TSC and the overall and site-specific cancer incidence in a large study population containing seven European cohorts.

Materials and Methods

Study Population

The Metabolic syndrome and Cancer project (Me-Can) includes data from population-based cohorts from Norway, Austria, and Sweden, and aims at investigating associations between metabolic factors and cancer risk.

A detailed description of the project has been published previously [30]. In 2006, data from seven existing cohorts from Norway (Oslo study, Norwegian Counties study, the Cohort of Norway, Age 40 programme), Austria (Vorarlberg Health Monitoring and Prevention Programme), and Sweden (Västerbotten Intervention Project, Malmö Preventive Project) were pooled. Participants in the cohorts had undergone one or more health examinations between 1972 and 2005, and information on lifestyle and socio-demographic factors had been recorded and available data have been managed accordingly. For the present study information on age, weight, height, TSC level, and smoking status of 289,273 men and 288,057 women was used.

Measurements

Anthropometric measurements were conducted in a similar way in all Me-Can cohorts, with participants wearing light indoor clothes and no shoes. Regarding smoking habits, participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire except in VHM&PP where respective questions were asked by the examining physician and the information was entered directly into a database. Participants were classified as never, former, and current smokers.

Fasting time before blood was drawn varied across the different cohorts [30]. In the Norwegian cohorts, fasting was not required before the examination, and fasting time was recorded as less than 1, 1–2, 2–4, 4–8, or more than 8 hours. Fasting time in Västerbotten Intervention Project was recorded as less than 4, 4–8, or more than 8 hours, and from 1992 onwards, participants were asked to fast for at least 8 hours before the examination. In Malmö Preventive Project and, after the initial 3 years, in the Austrian programme, a minimum of 8 hours of fasting was used as the standard procedure. For the analyses, information on fasting status was summarized into the categories of less than 4, 4–8, and more than 8 hours.

In the Oslo and the Norwegian Counties study serum levels of total cholesterol were measured applying a non-enzymatic method, whereas in all other cohorts an enzymatic method was used. Measurements obtained by a non-enzymatic method have been transformed according to 0.92×(cholesterol level) - 0.03 and are presented in mmol/l [30].

Identification of Cases and Cohort Follow-up

Incident cancer cases were identified through linkages with national cancer registries of the respective countries and categorized according to the International Classification of Diseases, seventh revision. Follow-up ended at the date of the first primary cancer diagnosis, emigration, death or December 31, 2003 (in Austria), 2005 (in Norway), or 2006 (in Sweden), whichever occurred first.

Statistical Analysis

Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were applied for men and women separately to investigate the association between TSC levels and site-specific cancer incidence. Subjects were followed until the date of first cancer diagnosis or were censored as described above. When analyzing a specific cancer site, this site was regarded as an event whereas all other sites were censored. Hazard ratios (HR) and respective 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated for TSC levels in quintiles (with cut-off levels determined separately for each sex, cohort, and fasting time category) and as a continuous variable (HRs per 1 mmol/l increment).

Age was utilized as the underlying time metric and all estimates were stratified by cohort, fasting time, and categories of birth year (before 1929, 1930–1939, 1940–1949, 1950–1959, 1960–1969, 1970 and later). Additionally, all analyses included adjustment for age at baseline (continuous), body mass index (BMI categories <22.5, 22.5–<25.0, 25.0–<27.5, 27.5–<30.0, 30.0–<32.5, ≥32.5- kg/m2), and smoking status (categories never, former, current smoker). Linear tests for trend were performed including TSC quintiles as an ordinal variable.

The proportionality assumption was checked applying a test based on Schoenfeld residuals. For some cancer sites there was an indication of violation of the proportionality assumption for BMI or smoking status. Additional models stratified for the respective variable were fitted, however estimates of hazard ratios for TSC did not change markedly. To check for reverse causation, various lag-time analyses were carried out, leaving out the first year, the first 5 years, and the first 10 years of follow-up.

In the main analyses hazard ratios were corrected for random error in TSC measurements using a method involving calculation of regression dilution ratio (RDR), similar to that described by Wood et al. [31]. Additionally, uncorrected hazard ratios were calculated and presented in supplement tables. Calculation of RDRs was based on data from subjects for whom two or more observations with the same fasting time before measurement were available; in total, data from 133,820 subjects and 406,364 health examinations were available. Altogether, the mean time between the baseline and the repeated measurement was 6.9 years (standard deviation [SD] = 3.9). Linear mixed effects models, treating the repeated measurements as the dependent variable and the baseline measurements as the independent variable and further including age at baseline, fasting time, smoking status, sex, birth year, BMI, and time since date of baseline examination as fixed effects and cohort as a random effect, were fitted. RDRs were estimated as the predicted regression coefficient at the time point six years after baseline measurement, i.e. at half the follow-up time. The obtained RDRs for TSC were 0.644 in men and 0.660 in women. Correction of hazard ratios was achieved by calculating exp (ln (HR)/RDR).

To assess whether statin prescription had an effect on the association between TSC and cancer incidence, additional analyses were performed with only baseline measurements that had been obtained before 1994. This timepoint was selected as the Scandinavian Simvastatin Study published in 1994 [32] was regarded as the starting point for the afterwards steadily increasing statin prescription.

Statistical analyses were performed with Stata (version 10, StataCorp LP, College Station, Texas) and R (version 2.7.2, used for RDR calculation). Two-sided P values lower than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Ethics

The study was approved by The Research Review Board of Umeå, Sweden, the Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics, Southeast Norway and the Ethikommission of the Land Vorarlberg, Austria. Participants from Sweden and Austria provided written informed consent to participate in this study. In Norway, the participants were invited to come to the health survey and a questionnaire was sent together with the invitation. An attendance to the health examination where the participants delivered their filled in questionnaire, has been accepted by the Data Inspectorate as an informed consent, but not a written consent. Written consent was obtained from 1994.

Results

Baseline Characteristics

In Table 1 baseline characteristics of the study population are presented by cohort. Mean age at baseline varied between 40.3 (SD = 7.0) years in the NCS cohort and 47.5 (15.0) years in CONOR. BMI was highest in the Oslo cohort 26.6 (2.9) and lowest in NCS and MPP. The highest rate of people suffering from hypercholesterolaemia (TSC>6.2 mmol/l) was observed in the Oslo cohort with 50.2%, the lowest in the 40-y cohort with 23.4%. Mean follow-up ranged from 26.0 (8.0) years in the Oslo cohort to 6.1 (2.4) years in CONOR.

thumbnail
Table 1. Baseline characteristics of study participants in the Metabolic Syndrome and Cancer Project.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054242.t001

TSC and Risk of Incident Cancer

Hazard ratios corrected for regression dilution bias for total and site-specific cancer incidence by quintiles and per unit increment of TSC are presented in Table 2 and Table 3 for men and women respectively. In addition, uncorrected estimates can be found in Tables S1 and Tables S2.

thumbnail
Table 2. RDR corrected hazard ratiosa of incident cancer by cholesterol in quintiles (compared to the lowest quintile) and per unit increment in men.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054242.t002

thumbnail
Table 3. RDR corrected hazard ratiosa of incident cancer by cholesterol in quintiles (compared to the lowest quintile) and per unit increment in women.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054242.t003

Among men, compared with the first quintile, TSC concentrations in the fifth quintile were borderline significantly associated with decreasing risk of total cancer (HR = 0.94; 95%CI: 0.88, 1.00) and significant inverse associations were observed for cancers of the liver/intrahepatic bile duct (HR = 0.14; 95%CI: 0.07, 0.29), pancreas cancer (HR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.33, 0.81), non-melanoma of skin (HR = 0.67; 95%CI: 0.46, 0.95), and cancers of the lymph/hematopoietic tissue (HR = 0.68, 95%CI: 0.54, 0.87). Similar associations were observed when one unit increments of TSC were considered (Table 2).

In women, the hazard ratio for the fifth quintile was associated with decreasing risk of total cancer (HR = 0.86, 95%CI: 0.79, 0.93) and furthermore for cancers of the gallbladder (HR = 0.23, 95%CI: 0.08, 0.62), breast (HR = 0.70, 95%CI: 0.61, 0.81), melanoma of skin (HR = 0.61, 95%CI: 0.42, 0.88) and cancers of the lymph−/hematopoietic tissue (HR = 0.61, 95%CI: 0.44, 0.83). Hazard ratios per one unit TSC increment showed similar inverse associations. Additionally, a borderline significant association was observed for cancers of other parts of uterus (HR = 0.91, 95%CI: 0.84, 0.99).

Lag-time Analysis

Considering males, comparing the fifth to the first quintile in lag-time analyses, after leaving out the first year of follow-up significant inverse associations persisted for cancers of the liver/intrahepatic bile ducts (HR = 0.15, 95%CI: 0.08, 0.31) and pancreas cancer (HR = 0.54, 95%CI: 0.35, 0.85). Furthermore, a borderline positive association for colon cancer (HR = 1.30, 95%CI: 1.01, 1.68) was observed. Leaving out the first five years of follow-up, significant inverse associations were still observed for cancers of the liver/intrahepatic bile ducts (HR = 0.24, 95%CI: 0.11, 0.53), pancreas (HR = 0.48, 95%CI: 0.30, 0.78) and non-melanoma of skin (HR = 0.63, 95%CI: 0.42, 0.94). There was again a positive association of TSC with colon cancer (HR = 1.46, 95%CI: 1.10, 1.92). When the first ten years of follow-up were excluded, only associations with pancreas cancer (HR = 0.50, 95%CI: 0.29, 0.88) non-melanoma of skin (HR = 0.56, 95%CI: 0.36, 0.89) and colon cancer (HR = 1.44, 95%CI: 1.05, 1.98) remained.

In females, all reported associations comparing the fifth to the first quintile persisted, when the first year of follow-up was excluded (total cancer HR = 0.90, 95%CI: 0.83, 0.98; gallbladder HR = 0.25, 95%CI: 0.09, 0.71; breast HR = 0.72, 95%CI: 0.62, 0.83; melanoma of skin HR = 0.60, 95%CI: 0.41, 0.89; cancers of the lymph/hematopoietic tissue HR = 0.65, 95%CI: 0.47, 0.90). When the first 5 years were left out, significant associations with breast cancer (HR = 0.71, 95%CI: 0.60, 0.85) and melanoma of skin (HR = 0.54, 95%CI: 0.33, 0.87) were still observed, which also persisted when the first ten years of follow-up were excluded (breast cancer HR = 0.62, 95%CI: 0.49, 0.80; melanoma of skin HR = 0.46, 95%CI: 0.21, 0.96).

Sub-analyses before 1994, the Onset of Statin Medication

Results of the sub-analyses including cholesterol data before 1994 are presented in Tables S3 and S4. The results did not show substantial differences in comparison to the main analyses with some exceptions, e.g. the inverse association of TSC with cancer became insignificant for pancreas cancer and cancers of the lymph−/hematopoietic tissue.

Discussion

In the present prospective cohort study, elevated TSC levels were significantly associated with decreased risk of cancer incidence in general and with several site-specific cancers in men and women. With the exception of male colon cancer we only found no or inverse relationships between TSC and cancer. Inverse relationships were found for cancers of the liver/intrahepatic bile duct, pancreas, non-melanoma of skin and lymph/hematopoietic tissue among men and for gallbladder, breast, melanoma of skin and lymph/hematopoietic tissue among women. From these, only associations of TSC with colon cancer, pancreas cancer, breast cancer, and skin cancer remained significant in the lag-time analysis. Restricting analyses to measurements before 1994, the onset of statin medication, revealed no major differences regarding the estimated associations.

In previous studies, the “preclinical cancer effect” hypothesis [20] has received considerable attention as an explanation for some of the observed inverse associations. That is, the inverse relation between low TSC levels and cancer risk might be caused by cancers in preclinical stages, as malignant neoplasm are known to have protean physiological effect, which might include metabolic depression of blood cholesterol [33]. Additional evidence for reverse causation comes from Trompet et al’s Mendelian randomization study [21] and a review on clinical trials investigating the relationship of low cholesterol and disease activity [34]. Furthermore, it has been suggested that inverse cancer-cholesterol relationships could be explained by competing risks, i.e that patients showing high TSC levels are more likely to be censored due to cardiovascular mortality before they were diagnosed with cancer [20].

Concerning site-specific cancers, reports on associations with colon cancer are controversial. Positive as well as negative associations have been observed [35], [36]. Our results indicate only a modest positive association among men and absence of a relation among women.

Regarding liver cancer, our results are in line with previously published results of the Me-Can study collaboration and other studies, where mostly negative associations have been reported that diminished with increasing lag-time periods [1], [3], [37], [38]. There seems to be a general consensus that, when hepatic inadequacy occurs because of liver cancer and chronic liver disease, form, esterification and evacuation of cholesterol are blocked, which causes changes in cholesterol levels [39].

For gallbladder/biliary tract cancer Andreotti et al [19] reported a U-shaped association, with low levels as well as high levels of cholesterol being linked with excess risks of biliary tract cancers. This was not confirmed in our data; our results showed no significant association in males and a clear inverse association in females.

The amount of literature on pancreatic cancer and its associations with cholesterol is limited. Two conducted studies found no significant associations [40], [41]. Our results differed between males and females with inverse associations in males and non-significant associations in females [42].

With regard to cancers of the lymph/hematopoietic tissue, leukemic blood and bone narrow cells have been reported to show an elevated low density lipoprotein-receptor activity that was inversely associated with plasma cholesterol levels which might explain hypocholesteraemia often seen in leukemic patients [33]. This interpretation is in line with our data, where associations of blood cancer with TSC disappeared in the lag-time analysis.

Most investigations on breast cancer have not reported significant associations with TSC [20], [43], [44]. However, our data showed a clear negative association (see also [45]) that persisted even when the first 10 years of follow-up were excluded, indicating that reverse causation does not apply in this case. Further, Fagherazzi et al [46] found a significantly decreased breast cancer risk among women using cholesterol-lowering drugs. Unfortunately, we do not have any data regarding statin prescription in the Me-Can project to confirm this finding. Associations of TSC with breast cancer were, however, similar in the pre-statin period before 1994 and in the total observation period. Associations of TSC with skin cancer where a debate is going on whether statin use affects skin cancer outcomes [47], [48], were also similar in the two periods.

Recently several authors reported positive associations between TSC levels and aggressive prostate cancer [11][13], even when TSC was not associated with overall prostate cancer [11]. Unfortunately, we did not have information regarding prostate cancer grading in our data, so we cannot contribute to this discussion.

Strengths of our study include the large sample size of over 500,000 participants from seven European population-based cohorts with virtually complete capture of cancer cases. We were also able to correct risk estimates for regression dilution bias, caused by random fluctuations in baseline measurements common to long-term prospective studies, which might lead to underestimation of the true risk. Furthermore, all analyses were adjusted for potential confounders such as BMI and smoking status and stratified by birth year, cohort and fasting time before measurement.

On the other hand, our study is limited by the lack of information of use of anti-hypercholesterol medication, such as statins, behavioural aspects like dietary habits, physical activity and alcohol consumption, as well as genetic variations that could have influenced both cholesterol levels and cancer. Furthermore, we did not have separate data on low and high density lipoprotein cholesterol subfractions or detailed information on tumor staging.

In summary, TSC levels were negatively associated with risk of cancer overall in females and risk of cancer at several sites in both males and females. Also, a positive relation was found for colon cancer in men. In the lag-time analysis some associations persisted, suggesting that although competing risks and reverse causation may explain the mainly inverse associations, some etiologic role for this lipid fraction cannot be ruled out.

Supporting Information

Table S1.

Uncorrected hazard ratios of incident cancer by cholesterol in quintiles (compared to the lowest quintile) and per unit increment in men.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054242.s001

(DOCX)

Table S2.

Uncorrected hazard ratios of incident cancer by cholesterol in quintiles (compared to the lowest quintile) and per unit increment in women.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054242.s002

(DOCX)

Table S3.

Uncorrected hazard ratios of incident cancer by cholesterol in quintiles (compared to the lowest quintile) and per unit increment in men, including measurements before 1994.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054242.s003

(DOCX)

Table S4.

Uncorrected hazard ratios of incident cancer by cholesterol in quintiles (compared to the lowest quintile) and per unit increment in women, including measurements before 1994.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054242.s004

(DOCX)

Acknowledgments

The authors thank, in Norway, the screening team at the former National Health Screening Service of Norway, now the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, the services of CONOR, and the contributing research centres delivering data to CONOR; in the Vorarlberg Health Monitoring and Prevention Programme, Elmar Stimpfl, the database manager, Karin Parschalk at the cancer registry; in the Västerbotten Intervention Project, Åsa Ågren, the project database manager at the Medical Biobank, Umeå University, Sweden; and in the Malmö Preventive Project, Anders Dahlin, the database manager.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: SS ME JM TS TB WB CH AE GN MA RS ST HC GH HJ PS HU. Analyzed the data: SS ME HJ HU. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SS ME JM TS TB WB CH AE GN MA RS ST HC GH HJ PS HU. Wrote the paper: SS ME JM TS TB WB CH AE GN MA RS ST HC GH HJ PS HU.

References

  1. 1. Cambien F, Ducimetiere P, Richard J (1980) Total serum cholesterol and cancer mortality in a middle-aged male population. Am J Epidemiol 112: 388–394.
  2. 2. Törnberg SA, Holm LE, Carstensen JM, Eklund GA (1989) Cancer incidence and cancer mortality in relation to serum cholesterol. J Natl Cancer Inst 81: 1917–1921.
  3. 3. Williams RR, Sorlie PD, Feinleib M, McNamara PM, Kannel WB, et al. (1981) Cancer incidence by levels of cholesterol. JAMA 245: 247–252.
  4. 4. Stemmermann GN, Chyou PH, Kagan A, Nomura AM, Yano K (1991) Serum cholesterol and mortality among Japanese-American men. The Honolulu (Hawaii) Heart Program. Arch Internal Med 151: 969–972.
  5. 5. Morris DL, Borhani NO, Fitzsimons E, Hardy RJ, Hawkins CM, et al. (1983) Serum cholesterol and cancer in the Hypertension Detection and Follow-up Program. Cancer 52: 1754–1759.
  6. 6. Kark JD, Smith AH, Hames CG (1982) Serum retinol and the inverse relationship between serum cholesterol and cancer. BMJ (Clin Research Ed) 284: 152–154.
  7. 7. Schatzkin A, Hoover RN, Taylor PR, Ziegler RG, Carter CL, et al. (1987) Serum cholesterol and cancer in the NHANES I epidemiologic followup study. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Lancet 2: 298–301.
  8. 8. Kagan A, McGee DL, Yano K, Rhoads GG, Nomura A (1981) Serum cholesterol and mortality in a Japanese-American population: the Honolulu Heart program. Am J Epidemiol 1981114: 11–20.
  9. 9. Sherwin RW, Wentworth DN, Cutler JA, Hulley SB, Kuller LH, et al. (1987) Serum Cholesterol Levels and Cancer Mortality in 361662 Men Screened for the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial. JAMA 257: 943–948.
  10. 10. Törnberg SA, Holm LE, Carstensen JM, Eklund GA (1986) Risks of cancer of the colon and rectum in relation to serum cholesterol and beta-lipoprotein. N Engl J Med 315: 1629–1633.
  11. 11. Platz EA, Clinton SK, Giovannucci E (2008) Association between plasma cholesterol and prostate cancer in the PSA era. Int J Cancer 123(7): 1693–1698.
  12. 12. Mondul AM, Clipp SL, Helzlsouer KJ, Platz EA (2010) Association between plasma total cholesterol concentration and incident prostate cancer in the CLUE II cohort. Cancer Causes Control 21: 61–68.
  13. 13. Mondul AM, Weinstein SJ, Virtamo J, Albanes D (2011) Serum total and HDL cholesterol and risk of prostate cancer. Cancer Causes Control 22: 1545–1552.
  14. 14. Wingard DL, Criqui MH, Holdbook MJ, Barrett-Connor E (1984) Plasma cholesterol and cancer morbidity and mortality in an adult community. J Chronic Dis 37: 401–406.
  15. 15. Hiatt RA, Fireman BH (1986) Serum cholesterol and the incidence of cancer in a large cohort. J Chronic Dis 39: 861–870.
  16. 16. Yaari S, Goldbourt, Even-Zohar S, Neufeld HN (1981) Associations of serum high density lipoprotein and total cholesterol with total, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality in a 7-year prospective study of 10 000 men. Lancet 1: 1011–1015.
  17. 17. Salonen JT (1982) Risk of cancer and death in relation to serum cholesterol. A longitudinal study in an eastern Finnish population with high overall cholesterol level. Am J Epidemiol 116: 622–630.
  18. 18. Lim U, Gayles T, Katki HA, Stolzenberg-Solomon R, Weinstein SJ, et al. (2007) Serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and risk of non-hodgkin lymphoma. Cancer res 67: 5569–5574.
  19. 19. Andreotti G, Chen J, Gao Y-T, Rashid A, Chang S-C, et al. (2008) Serum lipid levels and the risk of biliary tract cancers and biliary stones: A population-based study in China. Int J Cancer 122: 2322–2329.
  20. 20. Schatzkin A, Hoover RN, Taylor PR, Ziegler RG, Carter CL, et al. (1988) Site-specific Analysis of Total Serum Cholesterol and Incident Cancer in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I Epidemiologic Follow-up Study. Cancer Res 48: 452–458.
  21. 21. Trompet S, Jukema JW, Katan MB, Blauw GJ, Sattar N, et al. (2009) Apolipoprotein e genotype, plasma cholesterol, and cancer: a Mendelian randomization study. Am J Epidemiol 170: 1415–1421.
  22. 22. Rose G, Shipley MJ (1980) Plasma lipids and mortality: a source of error. Lancet 1: 523–526.
  23. 23. Isles CG, Hole DJ, Gillis CR, Hawthorne VM, Lever AF (1989) Plasma cholesterol, coronary heart disease, and cancer in the Renfrew and Paisley survey. BMJ (Clin Res Ed) 298: 920–924.
  24. 24. Ahn J, Lim U, Weinstein SJ, Schatzkin A, Hayes RB, et al. (2009) Prediagnostic total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and risk of cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 18: 2814–2821.
  25. 25. Strasak AM, Pfeiffer RM, Brant LJ, Rapp K, Hilbe W, et al. (2009) Time-dependent association of total serum cholesterol and cancer incidence in a cohort of 172,210 men and women: a prospective 19-year follow-up study. Ann Oncol 20: 1113–1120.
  26. 26. Clarke R, Shipley M, Lewington S, Youngman L, Collins R, et al.. (1999) Underestimation of Risk Associations Due to Regression Dilution in Long- term Follow-up of Prospective Studies. Am J Epidemiol: 341–353.
  27. 27. Whitlock G, Clark T, Vander Hoorn S, Rodgers A, Jackson R, et al. (2001) Random errors in the measurement of 10 cardiovascular risk factors. Eur J Epidemiol 17: 907–909.
  28. 28. Ulmer H, Kelleher C, Diem G, Concin H (2003) Long-term tracking of cardiovascular risk factors among men and women in a large population-based health system: the Vorarlberg Health Monitoring & Promotion Programme. Eur Heart J 24: 1004–1013.
  29. 29. Clarke R, Lewington S, Youngman L, Sherliker P, Peto R, et al. (2002) Underestimation of the importance of blood pressure and cholesterol for coronary heart disease mortality in old age. Eur Heart J 23: 286–293.
  30. 30. Stocks T, Borena W, Strohmaier S, Bjørge T, Manjer J, et al. (2010) Cohort Profile: The Metabolic syndrome and Cancer project (Me-Can). Int J Epidemiol 39: 660–667.
  31. 31. Wood AM, White I, Thompson SG, Lewington S, Danesh J (2006) Regression dilution methods for meta-analysis: assessing long-term variability in plasma fibrinogen among 27,247 adults in 15 prospective studies. I Int J Epidemiol 35: 1570–1578.
  32. 32. Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study Group (1994) Randomised trial of cholesterol lowering in 4444 patients with coronary heart disease: the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study (4S). Lancet 19 344(8934): 1383–1389.
  33. 33. Vitols S, Björkholm M, Gahrton G, Peterson C (1985) Hypocholesterolaemia in malignancy due to elevetad low-density-lipoprotein-receptor activity in tomur cells: Evidence from studies in patients with leukemia. Lancet 326: 1150–1154.
  34. 34. Kritz H, Zielinski C, Sinzinger H (1996) Low cholesterol and cancer. J Clin Oncol 14: 3043–3048.
  35. 35. Kitahara CM, Berrington de González A, Freedman ND, Huxley R, Mok Y, et al. (2011) Total cholesterol and cancer risk in a large prospective study in Korea. J Clin Oncol 29: 1592–1598.
  36. 36. Kreger BE, Anderson KM, Schatzkin A, Splansky GL (1992) Serum cholesterol level, body mass index, and the risk of colon cancer. The Framingham Study. Cancer 70: 1038–1043.
  37. 37. Law MR, Thompson SG (1991) Low serum cholesterol and the risk of cancer: an analysis of the published prospective studies. Cancer causes & control 2: 253–261.
  38. 38. Borena W, Strohmaier S, Lukanova A, Bjørge T, Lindkvist B, et al. (2011) Metabolic risk factors and primary liver cancer in a prospective study of 578,700 adults. Int J Cancer 131: 193–200.
  39. 39. Jiang J-T, Xu N, Zhang X-Y, Wu C-P (2007) Lipids changes in liver cancer. Journal of Zhejiang University Science B 8: 398–409.
  40. 40. Batty GD, Kivimaki M, Morrison D, Huxley R, Smith GD, et al. (2009) Risk factors for pancreatic cancer mortality: extended follow-up of the original Whitehall Study. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 18: 673–675.
  41. 41. Berrington de Gonzalez A, Yun JE, Lee S-Y, Klein AP, Jee SH (2008) Pancreatic cancer and factors associated with the insulin resistance syndrome in the Korean cancer prevention study. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 17: 359–364.
  42. 42. Johansen D, Stocks T, Jonsson H, Lindkvist B, Björge T, et al. (2010) Metabolic factors and the risk of pancreatic cancer: a prospective analysis of almost 580,000 men and women in the Metabolic Syndrome and Cancer Project. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 19: 2307–2317.
  43. 43. Hiatt RA, Friedman GD, Bawol RD, Ury HK (1982) Breast cancer and serum cholesterol. J Natl Cancer Inst 68: 885–889.
  44. 44. Törnberg SA, Holm LE, Carstensen JM (1988) Breast cancer risk in relation to serum cholesterol, serum beta-lipoprotein, height, weight, and blood pressure. Acta oncologica (Stockholm, Sweden) 27: 31–37.
  45. 45. Bjørge T, Lukanova A, Jonsson H, Tretli S, Ulmer H, et al. (2010) Metabolic syndrome and breast cancer in the me-can (metabolic syndrome and cancer) project. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 19: 1737–1745.
  46. 46. Fagherazzi G, Fabre A, Boutron-Ruault MC, Clavel-Chapelon F (2010) Serum cholesterol level, use of a cholesterol-lowering drug, and breast cancer: results from the prospective E3N cohort. Eur J Cancer Prev 19: 120–125.
  47. 47. Dellavalle RP, Drake A, Graber M, Heilig LF, Hester EJ, et al.. (2005) Statins and fibrates for preventing melanoma. Cochrane database of systematic reviews (Online): CD003697.
  48. 48. Jagtap D, Rosenberg CA, Martin LW, Pettinger M, Khandekar J, et al.. (2012) Prospective analysis of association between use of statins and melanoma risk in the Women’s Health Initiative. Cancer. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.27497.