More
Scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and partner institutions provide new evidence that adults with cancer who had a history of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or both were more likely to die compared with patients with cancer with no history of these comorbidities. This survival disadvantage was also seen for less common cancer types, such as brain, stomach, ovarian, and bladder cancers. This new study was published in the journal BMJ Medicine.
In the study, which included almost 27 000 people in seven European countries with a first primary cancer diagnosis, almost 4200 (15.5%) of the participants had a history of cardiometabolic comorbidity (cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, or both) before the cancer was diagnosed. The risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and from other causes (including digestive diseases) was substantially increased among cancer survivors with a history of cardiovascular disease and of type 2 diabetes, respectively, compared with those with no such history. Cancer-specific mortality was also increased in cancer survivors with these cardiometabolic comorbidities compared with those with no such comorbidities.
The findings of this study support a direct role of cardiometabolic comorbidities for the prognosis of cancer. Clinicians who treat people with cancer are encouraged to also optimally manage cardiometabolic comorbidities. Future research should examine ways to effectively convert these findings into practical benefits for patients with cancer and cardiometabolic comorbidities, therefore reducing the associated mortality.
Davila-Batista V, Viallon V, Fontvieille E, Jansana A, Kohls M, Bondonno NP, et al.
Associations between cardiometabolic comorbidities and mortality in adults with cancer: multinational cohort study
BMJ Med. Published online 21 March 2025;
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjmed-2024-000909
