Heart Failure Patients May Have Increased Cancer Risk, Study Presented at American Heart Association

People with heart failure were 68 percent more likely than community controls to develop cancer, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012.

Cancer also increased heart failure patients' death risk by 56 percent in this study sample.

Researchers compared cancer and death rates among 961 newly diagnosed heart failure patients with community controls.

They found that patients with heart failure had similar rates of cancer at the time of heart failure diagnosis. However, during follow-up of patients without prior cancer diagnosis and after adjusting for other diseases, patients with heart failure had a significantly increased risk of cancer. Cancer rates in heart failure patients were similar among men and women, but trended stronger in people younger than 75 years.

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