High cholesterol levels associated with a reduced risk of kidney cancer

This study was published in the International Journal of Cancer 2012 May 1;130(9):2118-28

Study title and authors:
The interplay between lipid profiles, glucose, BMI and risk of kidney cancer in the Swedish AMORIS study.

Van Hemelrijck M, Garmo H, Hammar N, Jungner I, Walldius G, Lambe M, Holmberg L.
King's College London, School of Medicine, Division of Cancer Studies, Cancer Epidemiology Group, London, UK. mieke.vanhemelrijck@kcl.ac.uk

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21630265

This study assessed possible links between cholesterol levels and kidney cancer risk. The study included 542,924 subjects, aged 20 years or older, who were followed for 13 years.

The study found:
(a) Those with the highest cholesterol levels (above 6.5 mmol/L or 251 mg/dL) had a 13% decreased risk of kidney cancer compared to those with the lowest cholesterol levels (below 4.9 mmol/L or 189 mg/dL).
(b) Those with the highest levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (above 4.25 mmol/L or 164 mg/dL) had a 9% decreased risk of kidney cancer compared to those with the lowest cholesterol levels (below 2.82 mmol/L or 109 mg/dL).
(c) Those with the highest levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (above 1.8 mmol/L or 69 mg/dL) had a 36% decreased risk of kidney cancer compared to those with the lowest cholesterol levels (below 1.25 mmol/L or 48 mg/dL).

The study reveals that high cholesterol levels are associated with a reduced risk of kidney cancer.