Patients living with heart failure (HF) may also face a higher risk of cancer, according to a study presented at the virtual annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and si- multaneously published in ESC Heart Failure. Investigators assessed more than 100,000 patients with HF and 100,000 controls without HF with an average age slightly older than 72 and no base- line cases of cancer. During 10 years of follow- up, cancer rates were 25.7% among patients with HF and 16.2% among those without HF. By gender, rates were 28.6% in women with HF, 18.8% in women without HF, 23.2% in men with HF, and 13.8% in men without HF. These findings, said a study coauthor, suggest that patients with HF may benefit from cancer- prevention measures. “Patients could benefit from intensive monitoring for cancer develop- ment through screening,” the coauthor said. “Considering the high incidence of both diseases and their impact on the lives of those affected, these patients deserve the maximum joint efforts of cardiologists and oncologists.”
