Study shows heart disease deaths surge in patients with cancer

New Delhi, Jan 5 Patients with cancer are more likely to die from cardiovascular diseases, according to a study.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, showed that the risk may be related to altered expression of inflammation‐ and coagulation‐related proteins.

The researchers from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences stressed the need to manage endocrine, kidney, and inflammation‐related risk factors in people with cancer.

“Our study found an elevated cardiovascular death in patients with cancer,” said the team.

“Patients with cancer need to pay attention to the risk of cardiovascular mortality, particularly among younger individuals and those diagnosed at an early stage; in clinical practice, it is recommended to emphasise the management of endocrine, kidney, and inflammation‐related risk factors in the population with cancer,” they added.

Previous studies have identified a link between cancer and cardiovascular disease; however, the underlying genetic and proteomic mechanisms remain unclear.

Therefore, the new study aimed to investigate the association between cancer diagnosis and cardiovascular mortality and to explore the potential mechanisms involved.

The team studied a total of 3,79,944 participants without cardiovascular disease at baseline, including 65,047 individuals with cancer.

Genome‐wide association studies, phenome‐wide association studies, and proteomic analyses were applied to investigate the underlying genetic and proteomic mechanisms.

The results revealed only a limited number of shared genetic variations between cancer and cardiovascular conditions, such as hypertension and cardiac dysrhythmias.

The researchers also identified nine independent risk factors for cardiovascular death, including age, sex, smoking, BMI, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, HbA1c, cystatin C, and neutrophil count.

Interestingly, the probability of survival from CVD was comparable between participants with and without cancer during the first 10 years of follow‐up but declined more sharply thereafter among patients with cancer.

This was possibly associated with the reduction in systemic tumour burden and the resolution of inflammation and coagulation disorders following treatment therapies, the team said.

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