Heart disease and cancer are the most common causes of death in the United States. They often have the same risk factors (for example, smoking, advancing age, obesity). Heart disease can worsen outcomes after cancer therapy and cancer therapy can result in heart disease. This tight relationship has led to the emergence of multidisciplinary approach to patients with cancer and heart disease (termed oncocardiology). We hypothesized that different manifestations of heart disease and vessel disease are very common in patients diagnosed with cancer and may be undertreated.

Using a very large clinical database of 1/8th of the US population, we identified patients with most common cancers and identified the presence of patients with heart and vessel diseases. Overall, about a third to half of patients had heart disease: 33% of patients with leukemia and lymphoma, 43% of patients with lung cancers, 17% of patients with breast cancers, 26% of patients with colon cancers, 35% of patients with renal cancers, and 26% of patients with head and neck cancers.

The most common manifestations were peripheral artery disease, coronary artery disease and cerebrovascular diseases being the most common. Despite these high percentages, only about a half of these patients were on medicines to treat their heart disease and only about a half were referred to heart specialists.

This study concludes that it is essential that patients with cancers are screened and treated for heart disease. Referrals to heart specialists is important to identify the risk and treat underlying heart conditions.

Sadeer Al-Kindi
Oncocardiology program, Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute,
University Hospitals Case Medical Center
Cleveland, USA

Publication

Prevalence of Preexisting Cardiovascular Disease in Patients With Different Types of Cancer: The Unmet Need for Onco-Cardiology.
Al-Kindi SG, Oliveira GH.
Mayo Clin Proc. 2015 Nov 18

Read offline:     

Related Articles:

	Naturally occurring peptide may tackle the “root… Obesity typically occurs when a person eats more calories than they need for their daily activity. It results in a build-up of fatty tissue around all organs. In lean people,…
	The allergies go marching on: the atopic march and… Atopic/allergic family of diseases affects >20% of the global population and encompasses allergic asthma, hay fever, food allergy, atopic dermatitis, and allergic rhinitis. Frequently, individuals with an allergic condition develop…
	Can we accurately diagnose different clinical… Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) is the second most common degenerative parkinsonian syndrome after idiopathic Parkinson’s disease. PSP is a clinically heterogeneous disorder with several clinical variants. The two most common…
	Defects in mismatch repair increase cancer risk and… Microsatellites are formed by 1-6 nucleotide base pairs that are repeated in direct order 5-50 times. Repetitive DNA including microsatellites are mainly present in non-coding DNA regions that occupy more…
	Your pharmacist will see you now! Public perception of pharmacists might be limited to dispensing medications. However, pharmacists are trained to deliver patient care to help patients improve their health-related outcomes and achieve their goals. Recognizing…
	Mortality risk among cocaine users after and before… This study targeted residents in northern Italy who turned to a public treatment centre for primary cocaine use between 1982 and 2016. Its aims were to estimate mortality risk, and…