Early stage Hodgkin lymphoma face a higher risk of death cardiovascular disease than from cancer

Treatment advances have improved the survival of individuals with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL)-a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system-but therapies can increase patients' risk of developing heart problems. A recent study published online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, reveals that people with early-stage Hodgkin's lymphoma are now at higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than from cancer.

The multicenter study included 15,889 children and adults in the United States who were diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma between 1983 and 2015. Researchers conducted this study because cardiovascular disease may be the most common non-malignant long-term complication and a prevalent cause for non-malignant death following treatment in Hodgkin lymphoma survivors.

Study found that among patients with stage I and stage II classic Hodgkin lymphoma, the proportion of deaths from cardiovascular disease exceeded the proportion of deaths from classic Hodgkin lymphoma after approximately 60 and 120 months of follow-up, respectively. Also, the cumulative incidence of cardiovascular disease mortality exceeded that of Hodgkin lymphoma and other cancers over time. In recent decades, the risk of mortality from classic Hodgkin lymphoma declined sharply, but the risk of cardiovascular disease mortality among patients with classic Hodgkin lymphoma declined slowly or even remained unchanged among some groups.

The analysis also revealed that patients with stage I or stage II classic Hodgkin lymphoma experienced a higher risk of cardiovascular disease mortality than the general population at almost all follow-up intervals.

Researchers concluded that results indicate that more effective measures are needed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease-related deaths in classic Hodgkin lymphoma survivors.

Reference: "People with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma face a higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than from cancer"; WILEY, JOURNAL Cancer; DOI: 10.1002/cncr.34375.