Cardiovascular Disease Associated with Certain Cancers
Various studies have found an association between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and increased likelihood of cancer progression and reduced survival, but these studies were unable to determine whether all forms of CVD were involved, shared risk factors were driving the risk or the increased risk applied to all forms of cancer. To shed light on this topic, researchers performed a retrospective study on more than 27 million individuals with a minimum follow-up of 36 months and no cancer diagnoses within the first 24 months. The study participants were classified into three groups: no CVD, atherosclerotic CVD (ASCVD) or non-atherosclerotic CVD (naCVD). The primary outcome was time to diagnosis of each of the 20 most common organ-specific cancers. Those with ASCVD had a higher cumulative incidence of cancer than the no CVD and naCVD groups, and the naCVD group had a higher cumulative incidence of cancer than the no CVD group. Individuals with CVD had a higher rate of cancer than individuals without CVD, even after adjusting for traditional cardiac risk factors, as well as for heart failure. On closer examination, the ASCVD group had a significantly higher risk of cancers of the lung, bladder, colon, head and neck, liver, prostate, pancreas and kidney, as well as lymphoma, leukemia and other hematologic malignancies, researchers reported in the April 11 issue of JACC: CardioOncology.
