Having a heart attack leaves you at greater risk of developing cancer, a study has revealed.
Patients diagnosed with heart failure between 1979 and 1990 had a 48 per cent increased risk of cancer, while patients diagnosed between 1991 and 2002 had an 86 per cent increased risk.
However the researchers, from the Mayo Clinic Centre for the Science of Health Care Delivery in America, said that despite better heart survival rates, the rise in cancer detection might be down to increased surveillance or side effects.
Researchers conducted the study using medical records from the Rochester Epidemiology Project, which links the inpatient and outpatient records from all providers used by the population of Olmsted County, Minnesota.
The study included 596 patients with heart failure paired with the same number of similar healthy subjects.
The research, published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology, looked at two 11-year time periods.
Dr Roger and colleagues suggest several possible causes for the increased risk of cancer in heart failure patients, including side effects of cardiovascular treatments, or stress from illness or other mechanisms associated with the physiology of heart failure such as inflammation.
Investigators stress the importance of the findings in the treatment and management of heart failure, concluding patients should be monitored closely for signs of cancer, the authors said.
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