In a new study, researchers found that more than one in ten cancer patients do not die from their cancer but from heart and blood vessel problems instead.
For some cancers, like breast, prostate, endometrial, and thyroid cancer, around half will die from heart disease and stroke.
The research was conducted by a team at Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Cancer Institute.
The team compared the US general population with over 3.2 million US patients who had been diagnosed with cancer between 1973 and 2012.
They used information contained in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database to look at deaths from heart disease and stroke, which included heart disease, high blood pressure, cerebrovascular disease, blocked arteries and damage to the aorta—the main artery carrying blood from the heart to the rest of the body.
They looked specifically at 28 different types of cancer.
Among the 3,234,256 cancer patients, 38% (1,228,328) died from cancer and 11% (365,689) died from heart disease and stroke.
Among the deaths from heart disease and stroke, 76% were due to heart disease, and the risk of dying from heart disease and stroke was highest in the first year after a cancer diagnosis and among patients younger than 35 years.
The majority of heart disease and stroke deaths occurred in patients with cancers of the breast (a total of 60,409 patients) and prostate (84,534 patients), as these are among the most common cancers to be diagnosed.
In 2012, 61% of all cancer patients who died from heart disease and stroke were diagnosed with breast, prostate, or bladder cancer.
The proportion of cancer survivors dying from heart disease and stroke was highest in bladder (19% of patients), larynx (17%), prostate (17%), womb (16%), bowel (14%) and breast (12%).
Patients who were more likely to die from cancer than from CVD were those with the most aggressive and hard-to-treat cancers, such as cancer of the lung, liver, brain, stomach, gallbladder, pancreas, oesophagus, ovary and multiple myeloma.
This is the largest and most comprehensive study looking at deaths from cardiovascular disease among patients with 28 types of cancer with over 40 years of data.
Other, smaller studies have looked at the risk of death from heart disease and stroke in some specific cancers, but none have looked at so many cancers with such a long follow-up.
The team says these findings show that a large proportion of certain cancer patients will die of cardiovascular disease, including heart disease, stroke, aneurysm, high blood pressure and damage to blood vessels.
They also found that among survivors with any type of cancer diagnosed before the age of 55 years, the risk of cardiovascular death was more than ten-fold greater than in the general population.
Doctors need to be aware that the majority of heart disease deaths occur in patients diagnosed with breast, prostate or bladder cancer.
The team says the reason why cancer patients were more at risk of dying from cardiovascular disease within the first year of diagnosis might be because when they entered the hospital system, other illnesses and problems, such as heart disease, lung dysfunction, and kidney failure were also detected.
It could also be explained by the aggressive treatment that follows a cancer diagnosis.
They hope these findings will increase awareness in patients and doctors as to the risk of heart disease among cancer patients and the need for earlier, more aggressive and better heart care.
One author of the study is Dr. Nicholas Zaorsky, a radiation oncologist.
The study is published in the European Heart Journal.
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