Cancer and heart

Heart and vascular diseases can increase the risk of cancer by seven times

Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+

Cardiovascular diseases and cancer are the two main causes of death in the world. Observations of American scientists show that they are interconnected: the development of one disease increases the likelihood of developing another. The report Heart disease and cancer risk may be linked is published on the website of the American Heart Association.

Observations of almost 13 thousand participants over fifteen years have shown that cardiovascular diseases increase the risk of developing cancer during life. The average age of the volunteers at the start of the study was 51 years, all of them were healthy.

Heart attack, arrhythmia and heart failure increased the risk of cancer by seven times compared to participants who did not have heart and vascular pathologies during the observation period.

Atherosclerosis tripled the probability of developing a malignant tumor.

A total of 1,670 cases of cancer have been recorded over 15 years. More often than others, tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, breast, prostate and lungs occurred.

Peptide marker

Scientists also found that if patients had elevated levels of BNP peptide (natriuretic peptide type B – VM), it meant a future increased likelihood of developing cancer. "BNP is associated with the risks of heart failure, but now for the first time we observe that this biomarker can also indicate increased cancer risks during life," Tochi Okvuosa, a scientist from the American Heart Association, commented on the results.

Cancer and cardiovascular diseases have many common risk factors, including smoking, unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. Lifestyle correction is an effective prevention in both cases, the authors emphasize.

Scientists will continue their research to find out the biological mechanisms that determine the relationship between cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

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