Treatment with statins in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was associated with a reduced risk of death from extrapulmonary cancer in a Dutch study.

Although COPD has a well known association with lung cancer, its relationship with extrapulmonary cancers is less well defined. Furthermore, “it is not known whether the risk of COPD and cancer mortality can be modulated by pharmacologic treatment,” Dr. Don Poldermans, from Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam told Reuters Health in an email.