Risk for Heart Failure Higher in Young Adult Cancer Survivors

WEDNESDAY, June 7, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Young adult (YA) cancer survivors, especially those diagnosed with leukemia or those treated with anthracycline chemotherapy, face an increased risk for heart failure, according to a research letter published online May 16 in JACC: CardioOncology.

Elizabeth Hibler, Ph.D., from Northwestern University in Chicago, and colleagues used electronic health records to examine associations between cancer diagnosis (2000 to 2019) and risk for heart failure among 12,879 YA cancer survivors (18 to 39 years).

The researchers found that the five-year incidence of heart failure was higher among YA cancer survivors with anthracycline exposure (738 individuals) compared with those without exposure (4.0 versus 1.3 percent; hazard ratio [HR], 2.6; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.6 to 4.9). When adjusting for competing risk for death, the risk was similar (HR, 2.4; 95 percent CI, 1.5 to 3.7). When adjusting for age, sex, race-ethnicity, history of hypertension or cardiovascular disease, secondary cancer diagnosis, and additional covariates, the risk estimate was similar. The five-year cumulative incidence of heart failure was significantly highest for leukemia survivors but was also elevated for kidney, lymphoma, bone, and breast cancer survivors versus the survivors of other cancer types.

“We often think about heart failure as a disease people get when they are old, but this work highlights that this is also a short-term risk for patients who survive cancer,” senior author Sadiya Khan, M.D., of Northwestern Medicine, said in a statement. “It raises awareness for patients and clinicians to monitor symptoms and consider strategies for prevention.”