Several cancer survivors risk dying from cardiovascular disease, new American research shows. The more aggressive the type of cancer, the greater the chance.
More than every tenth cancer patient do not die from the disease itself but instead from cardiovascular disease such as heart attack, according to results recently published by US researchers in the medical journal European Heart Journal.
For certain cancers such as breast cancer, prostate cancer or thyroid cancer, the number of patients is about half.
“During the first year after being diagnosed, this risk was several times higher, compared to the rest of the population,” said Professor Kathleen Sturgeon from Penn State Medical University in the United States in a press release.
The researchers have analysed around three million cancer patients who were affected by 28 different types of cancer over a period of 40 years. 38 percent of patients died of cancer while 11 percent died from cardiovascular disease. The risk was greatest for patients younger than 35 years and during the first year of diagnosis. Patients with aggressive and, or have difficulties treating their cancer also had a higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared to others.
According to the researchers, a likely explanation could be the aggressive treatment many cancer patients receive through radiation and chemotherapy.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
Be the first to comment on "Many cancer survivors die from heart disease"