Relative Risk of Cardiovascular Mortality in Breast Cancer Patients: A Population-Based Study

¹ Department of Breast Surgery, Sichuan Cancer Hospital & Institute, Sichuan Cancer Center, School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, 610044 Chengdu, Sichuan, China

² Laboratory of Molecular Diagnosis of Cancer, Clinical Research Center for Breast, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 610041 Chengdu, Sichuan, China

³ Department of Breast Surgery, West China School of Medicine/West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 610041 Chengdu, Sichuan, China

⁴ Department of Head, Neck and Mammary Gland Oncology, Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 610041 Chengdu, Sichuan, China

⁵ Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 610041 Chengdu, Sichuan, China

^*Correspondence: scyshenchaoyong@163.com (Chaoyong Shen)
Academic Editors: Ichiro Wakabayashi and Klaus Groschner

Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2022, 23(4), 120; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm2304120

Submitted: 23 December 2021 | Revised: 25 February 2022 | Accepted: 11 March 2022 | Published: 1 April 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Diseases)

This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.

Abstract

Aims: To investigate the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in breast cancer patients compared with the general female population. Methods: Data was retrieved from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. 924,439 female breast cancer patients who were at the age of follow-up $\geq$ 30 years and diagnosed during 1990–2016 as well as the aggregated general female population in the US were included. Using multivariable Poisson regression, we calculated incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of CVD mortality among female breast cancer patients compared with the female population. Results: The risk of CVD mortality was mildly increased among breast cancer patients at the age of follow-up 30–64 years (IRR 1.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03–1.10) compared with the general population. This growth of risk reached its peak within the first month after diagnosis (IRR 3.33, 95% CI 2.84–3.91) and was mainly activated by diseases of the heart (IRR 1.11, 95% CI 1.07–1.15). The elevation was greatest in survivors at the age of follow up 30–34 years (IRR 3.50, 95% CI 1.75–7.01). Conclusions: Clinicians should provide risk mitigation strategies with early monitoring of CVD mortality for breast cancer survivors, especially those who were young or with aggressive tumor stage.

Keywords

breast cancer

cardiovascular disease

mortality

population

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