Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Apr 15;115(5):844-853.
doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvz035.

Common risk factors for heart failure and cancer

Wouter C Meijers  1 , Rudolf A de Boer  1
Affiliations
Review

Common risk factors for heart failure and cancer

Wouter C Meijers et al. Cardiovasc Res. .

Abstract

Cardiovascular (CV) disease and cancer are the leading causes of death.1,2 Over the last decades, it has been appreciated that both CV disease and cancer are more common in individuals in whom risk factors for disease development accumulate, and preventative measures have been extremely important in driving down the incidence of disease.3-6 In general, the field of epidemiology, risk reduction, and preventative trials is divided into health care professionals who have an interest in either CV disease or cancer. As a result, the medical literature and medical practice has largely focused on the one disease, or the other. However, human individuals do not behave according to this dogma. Emerging data clearly suggest that identical risk factors may lead to CV disease in the one individual, but may cause cancer in another, or even both diseases in the same individual. This overlap exists between risk factors that are historically classified as 'CV risk factors' as these factors do equally strong predict cancer development. Therefore, we propose that a holistic approach might better estimate actual risks for CV disease and cancer. In this review, we summarize current insights in common behavioural risk factors for heart failure, being the most progressed and lethal form of CV disease, and cancer.

Keywords: Biomarkers; Cardio-oncology; Cardiovascular risk factors; Heart failure; Hypertension; Inflammation; Lipids; Risk factors.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Hypothetical depiction of the ‘cardiac and tumour secretomes’, each affecting the cardiac extracellular matrix and the tumour stroma via paracrine and endocrine signalling.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Graphical presentation of the contradictory dynamics and effects of angiogenesis between heart failure and cancer, and the possible interaction of drugs affecting angiogenesis on heart failure and cancer. FGF, fibroblast growth factor; HIF, hypoxia induced factor; TKI tyrosine kinase inhibitor; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Proposed schedule of the complex interplay between heart failure and cancer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Timmis A, Townsend N, Gale C, Grobbee R, Maniadakis N, Flather M, Wilkins E, Wright L, Vos R, Bax J, Blum M, Pinto F, Vardas P; ESC Scientific Document Group. European Society of Cardiology: cardiovascular Disease Statistics 2017. Eur Heart J 2018;39:508–579. - PubMed
    1. Ferlay J, Colombet M, Soerjomataram I, Dyba T, Randi G, Bettio M, Gavin A, Visser O, Bray F.. Cancer incidence and mortality patterns in Europe: estimates for 40 countries and 25 major cancers in 2018. Eur J Cancer 2018;103:356–387. - PubMed
    1. Jacobs L, Efremov L, Ferreira JP, Thijs L, Yang WY, Zhang ZY, Latini R, Masson S, Agabiti N, Sever P, Delles C, Sattar N, Butler J, Cleland JGF, Kuznetsova T, Staessen JA, Zannad F, Mebazza A, Pinet F, Pizard A, Rouet P, Clusel C, Grosjean S, Breek H, Leenders J, Diez J, McDonald K, Clark A, Heymans S, Thum T.. Risk for incident heart failure: a subject-level meta-analysis from the heart ‘OMics’ in AGEing (HOMAGE) study. J Am Heart Assoc 2017;6:e005231.. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bayliss EA, Reifler LM, Zeng C, McQuillan DB, Ellis JL, Steiner JF.. Competing risks of cancer mortality and cardiovascular events in individuals with multimorbidity. J Comorb 2014;4:29–36. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Akinyemiju T, Wiener H, Pisu M.. Cancer-related risk factors and incidence of major cancers by race, gender and region; analysis of the NIH-AARP diet and health study. BMC Cancer 2017;17:597.. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Substances