(RxWiki News) If you're diagnosed with cancer, your age when you get that diagnosis could help determine your risk of deadly heart disease, according to a new study.
This United Kingdom-based study also found that the type of cancer you're diagnosed with may also help determine your risk of death from heart disease.
Heart disease is a relatively common treatment-related cause of death among childhood cancer survivors. The researchers behind this study said their findings could help doctors determine the best course of treatment for patients with cancer.
This study looked at more than 200,000 teenage and young adult cancer survivors in England and Wales between 1971 and 2006. Those who were included in the study had survived cancer for five years and were followed until 2014.
After looking at their data, these researchers found heart disease to be the cause of death in 6 percent of survivors.
Survivors who were diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 19 had a greater risk of death when compared to their counterparts. For survivors who were diagnosed between the ages of 35 and 39, the risk was higher than the general population but not as high as the risk seen in the 15- to 19-year-old population, these researchers found.
This age effect was most apparent for survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma.
Survivors of other types of cancer also appeared to have a higher risk of death from heart disease. These types of cancer included lymphoma, leukemia, lung cancer, genitourinary cancer and breast cancer.
Speak with your doctor about your risk for heart disease.
This study was published in the journal Circulation.
The National Institute for Health Research and a grant from Cancer Research UK funded this research. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
