Cancer and cardiovascular diseases are among the most common causes of death worldwide. What many people don’t know is that the risk factors largely overlap.
Researchers around the world are studying the causes of cancer. But why one person gets a tumor and another doesn’t cannot be answered clearly to this day. “On the one hand, the predisposition to cancer can be inherited, that is, determined in the genes. On the other hand, external factors can cause the development or reinforce an inherited predisposition,” informs the Professional Association of German Internists.
In most cases, several factors work together to promote the development of a tumor. These primarily include:
- Tobacco use
- Alcohol consumption
- excessive sunlight
- Handling hazardous chemicals
- Wrong diets – usually associated with obesity
- Lack of exercise
- bacterial or viral infections
Cancer and cardiovascular diseases are closely linked not only because of the highest death rate. A variety of risk factors, which coincide with those of cancer, are also responsible for the development of heart and vascular diseases. Some, such as age or family history, cannot be influenced. But there are also a number of factors that you can actively influence yourself. Including:
- Tobacco use
- Alcohol consumption
- high blood pressure
- Diabetes mellitus (diabetes)
- increased blood fat levels (cholesterol)
- Wrong diets – usually associated with obesity
- Lack of exercise
- stress
The more risk factors there are, the greater the likelihood of developing heart disease or suffering a so-called cardiac event such as a heart attack.
Cancer and heart disease: danger of a double burden
Risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity can play a significant role not only in the development but also in the progression of cancer, reports the German Heart Foundation . As a result of improved oncological therapies, more and more cancer patients are surviving the tumor. But for them, cardiovascular diseases have become the second most common cause of death.
“Today, more tumor patients are dying from cardiovascular disease than ever before,” reports Prof. Dr. med. Stephan Baldus, Director of the Heart Center at the University Hospital of Cologne . Not only smoking is a risk factor for both cancer and coronary heart disease (arteriosclerosis) in the blood vessels that supply the heart.
“Many people don’t know that high blood pressure, in addition to its danger to the heart and blood vessels, including heart attacks and heart failure , is also associated with increased cancer mortality,” says Baldus, who is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Heart Foundation. Adjusting blood pressure and blood lipid levels therefore plays an important role in cancer treatment.
Important for cancer patients: protect the heart and blood vessels
“Many cancer therapies can damage the heart and circulatory system – modern active ingredients that target cancer cells more accurately can also affect the cardiovascular system,” warns heart specialist Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Meinertz from the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Heart Foundation.
Under these conditions, it is important to ensure that the long-term survival and quality of life of people who have overcome or brought cancer under control are not affected by new or worsening cardiovascular disease, emphasizes Meinertz.The aim of doctors is therefore to avoid heart damage as much as possible during cancer therapy and to diagnose and treat it early. “We cardiologists have to be in close contact with the cancer specialists,” says Baldus. This is the only way to minimize risks and to detect the harmful effects of tumor therapy on the heart and circulatory system at an early stage and treat them consistently.