Study found they are more prone to high blood pressure and high cholesterol
Survivors of childhood cancer are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood, according to a study published in the European Heart Journal.
Researchers in Germany found that as adults these people were at increased risk of having high blood pressure and dyslipidaemia (abnormal, usually high, levels of cholesterol and other fats in the blood). These conditions occurred six and eight years earlier respectively when compared with the general population.
High blood pressure and dyslipidaemia were the most common cardiovascular risk factors identified in the childhood cancer survivors, 23% and 28% respectively, whereas diabetes was only found in two per cent.
In addition, childhood cancer survivors had a nearly two-fold increased risk of cardiovascular diseases such as congestive heart failure and venous thromboembolism. Cardiovascular disease was found in 4.5% of survivors and occurred in the majority before they reached the age of 40, nearly eight years earlier than in the general population.
Between October 2013 and February 2016, a total of 951 adult long-term survivors of childhood cancer, who were part of the “Cardiac and vascular late sequelae in long-term survivors of childhood cancer” (CVSS) study, underwent a clinical examination that included assessing factors that might put them at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure and dyslipidaemia.
The researchers also checked their medical history, whether or not they smoked and whether there was any family history of cardiovascular disease. Their ages ranged from 23 to 48 at the time of this follow-up. The results were compared with over 15,000 people selected from the general population.
Professor Joerg Faber, head of the Department of Paediatric Haematology / Oncology / Haemostaseology at the University Medical Centre of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, one of the three principal investigators, said: “Our results show that these survivors of childhood cancer have a substantially elevated burden of prematurely occurring traditional cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular diseases.”
High blood pressure and dyslipidaemia were the most common cardiovascular risk factors identified in the childhood cancer survivors, 23% and 28% respectively, whereas diabetes was only found in two per cent. These conditions occurred earlier than in the general population; 17% and 25% had high blood pressure or dyslipidaemia respectively before the age of 30, and 39% and 38% by the age of 45.
