The National Institutes of Health has published the results of a Taipei Medical University Hospital research study, indicating that women who regularly take cholesterol lowering statins, like Lipitor, are at a markedly increased risk of developing thyroid cancer.

This statin thyroid cancer research study, which appeared in the November issue of Clinical Endrocrinology medical journal, compared 500 thyroid cancer patients with 2,500 counterparts who did not have the disease. The rate of thyroid cancer was “significantly associated” with regular statin use among female patients, though there was no noted increase of thyroid cancer condition among women who used statins on an irregular basis or male users of the statin drugs.

Irregular use was characterized as taking the statin medication intermittently or not being given continuous prescriptions for two months or more in the six month period before enrolling in the statin thyroid cancer study.

According to this Lipitor thyroid cancer study, women who regularly take statins may face up to a 40 percent increased risk of thyroid cancer risk.

In previous studies, statins such as Lipitor, Crestor and Zocor have been found to decrease risks for colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers, but the latest Lipitor study suggests that the popular heart healthy drugs may actually increase the risk of thyroid cancer in women.

Other Lipitor Side Effects and Health Risks

Thousands of plaintiffs across the country have filed Lipitor lawsuits against pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc., alleging its widely popular cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor causes type-2 diabetes. Thousands of other consumers have sued the company, claiming a failure to disclose information about Lipitor’s type-2 diabetes risk to the medical community as well as consumers.

Lipitor has been FDA approved as a cholesterol treatment since 1996, while its generic equivalent, atorvastatin, received FDA approval in 2011. Since then, the controversial drug has generated more than $130 billion in revenue for Pfizer. However, the company has been plagued by safety label changes mandated by the FDA, as well as different studies linking Lipitor to serious health risks, including type-2 diabetes and thyroid cancer. Statin drugs like Crestor and Zocor are in the same class of drugs as Lipitor and may have similar thyroid cancer and type-2 diabetes side effects.

In 2012, the FDA ordered safety label changes for all statins, and additionally required companies to alert consumers of the need for routine monitoring of liver enzymes, information about non-serious statin cognitive side effects (such as memory loss or confusion), reports of increased blood sugar levels, and other drug interactions.

The new FDA statin regulations came on the heels of a published study that found women using Lipitor and other statins may be at an increased risk of developing type-2 diabetes. Many of the plaintiffs filing Lipitor type-2 diabetes lawsuits were diagnosed with diabetes despite living healthy lifestyle.

An earlier study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine indicated that female statin users between the ages of 50 and 79 who took Lipitor, Crestor, Zocor and other statins were 48 percent more likely to develop type-2 diabetes than women who did not take these cholesterol managing drugs.

An similar study published in Great Britain in September found that statins increase the risk of type-2 diabetes. That study looked at more than 200,000 people in 43 genetic studies.

Overall, this mounting medical research suggesting a strong link between Lipitor, type-2 diabetes, and other health risks may propel more consumers to file Lipitor diabetes lawsuits or join Lipitor class action lawsuits.