Cancer and CVD Share Risk Factors

A prospective study revealed that cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, 10-year atherosclerotic CVD (ASCVD) risk score, and natriuretic peptide concentrations are associated with increased risk of future cancer. Conversely, a heart healthy lifestyle is associated with a lower risk of future cancer. The study included 20,305 participants, mean age 50 ± 14 years; 54% women. There were 2,548 incident cancer cases occurred over a median follow-up of 15.0 years. Traditional CVD risk factors, including age, sex, and smoking status, were independently associated with cancer. Estimated 10-year ASCVD risk was also associated with future cancer (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.16 per 5% increase in risk). Natriuretic peptides (tertile 3 vs. tertile 1; HR: 1.40) were associated with incident cancer but not high-sensitivity troponin. Prevalent CVD and the development of interim CV events were not associated with higher risk of subsequent cancer. However, ideal CV health was associated with lower future cancer risk (HR: 0.95 per 1-point increase in the AHA health score with each of the Life’s Simple 7ideal CV health metric assigned 2 points). These data suggest that the association between CVD and future cancer is attributable to shared risk factors. Source: https://www.jacc.org/