Characterization of cardiovascular disease burden and health of Canadian cancer survivors

Many individuals diagnosed with cancer will now die of cardiovascular disease instead of cancer. At the time of a cancer diagnosis a number of individuals already have cardiovascular disease risk factors due to the overlap with risk factors for cancer (i.e. overweight/obesity, physical inactivity, smoking, poor diet). Several therapies used to treat cancer can also damage the cardiovascular system and indirectly result in reductions in physical activity and unfavourable body composition changes. There is limited information available to characterize the burden of cardiovascular disease within the general cancer survivor population in Canada or worldwide. We will use the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging data to compare the prevalence of self-reported cardiovascular disease and risk factors in Canadian cancer survivors to the general population. We will also compare measures of physical function, and health of the heart, vessels, lungs, blood and muscle among cancer survivors relative to age-matched individuals without cancer.

The cardiovascular risk factors that are the most prevalent among cancer survivors or have elevated odds among cancer survivors compared to controls are self-reported or easily measured in the clinic. The cardiovascular risk was the greatest in the younger survivors in the 45–85-year-old cohort. These findings can be used in the survivorship setting to guide an accessible and time-efficient preliminary cardiovascular risk assessment. This assessment should consist of self-report of smoking status, daily fruit and vegetable servings, physical activity, as well as personal history of diabetes, hypertension, and lung disease. Basic in-clinic measurements should consist of height and weight to assess overweight/obesity status, resting blood pressure and heart rate, and waist circumference.