Abstract
Background: The advances in cancer treatment and detection of early cancer have resulted in a steady increase in the number of of cancer survivors over the years. However, because of the long-term toxic effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is increasing in survivors. Objectives: To investigate traditional cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs), inflammation and the coagulation profile in long-term cancer survivors (cancer diagnosis >= 5 years) from a large adult population-based study sample. Methods: The presence of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) and laboratory markers were compared in individuals with (n = 723) and without (n = 13626) a long-term history of cancer from the Gutenberg Health Study. Data on coagulation factors, D-dimer and von Willebrand factor (VWF) activity were available for 4974 individuals (n = 244 cancer survivors). Results: In multivariable regression models, a history of cancer was, independently of CVRFs and CVD, associated with higher fibrinogen levels (beta 6.99, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.16-12.8), VWF activity (beta 5.08, 95% CI 0.02-10.1), and antithrombin activity (beta 1.85, 95% CI 0.44-3.27). Cancer survivors with CVD showed notably higher VWF activity than individuals with CVD without a history of cancer, with a difference in the means of 23.0 (7.9-38.1). Multivariate Cox regression analysis, adjusted for CVRFs, confirmed that a long-term history of cancer is associated with a 72% higher mortality. Increased mortality in cancer survivors was dependent on fibrinogen level and VWF activity level. Conclusion: Cancer survivors showed a worse inflammation and coagulation profile than individuals without a history of cancer. Overall mortality in long-term cancer survivors was increased independently of traditional CVRFs. These results underline the need to further investigate plasma biomarkers as complementary cardiovascular risk predictors in cancer survivors.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 699-708 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis |
Volume | 16 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2018 |
Keywords
- cancer
- cardiovascular disease
- coagulation factors
- inflammation
- mortality
- survivors
- VON-WILLEBRAND-FACTOR
- CARDIOVASCULAR-DISEASE
- PLASMA-FIBRINOGEN
- OVARIAN-CANCER
- RISK
- MORTALITY
- ATHEROSCLEROSIS
- METAANALYSIS
- HEALTH
- COHORT