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Relationship between incident cardiovascular disease and quality of life after a breast cancer diagnosis
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Relationship between incident cardiovascular disease and quality of life after a breast cancer diagnosis

Alexi Vasbinder, Elena Wadden, Richard K Cheng, Ana Barac, Christopher R Friese, Yangbo Sun, Aladdin H Shadyab, Longjian Liu, Lisa Warsinger Martin, Marcia Stefanick, …
Journal of cancer survivorship
06 Feb 2025
PMID: 39909978
url
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12947807/View
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Abstract

Cardiovascular disease Breast cancer Survivor Short-form 36 Quality of life
Breast cancer survivors are at risk for both poor quality of life (QoL) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study examines whether incident CVD after breast cancer independently predicts QoL. Using data from the Women's Health Initiative, we included women who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during follow-up and free of prevalent CVD prior to breast cancer. CVD was defined as adjudicated coronary heart disease, heart failure, or stroke. Physical and mental QoL, measured by the SF-36 Physical and Mental Component Scores (PCS and MCS, respectively), were recorded after breast cancer. Poor PCS and MCS were defined as scores < 40. We used adjusted time-dependent Cox proportional hazards models, accounting for time to CVD. Among 2912 BC survivors (mean age at BC diagnosis = 67), 1094 (37.6%) and 313 (10.7%) women had a post-breast cancer PCS and MCS score < 40, respectively, at a median of 2.5 years. A higher proportion of women had poor PCS scores post-BC (37.5% vs. 19.2%, P < 0.001) but not MCS (10.4% vs. 8.2%, P = 0.10). After adjustment for key covariates, incident CVD was associated with a 1.95-fold (95% CI 1.42, 2.67) greater risk of poor PCS scores (P < 0.001), but was not associated with poor MCS (HR 1.23, 95% CI 0.57, 2.65, P = 0.59)). Incident CVD after breast cancer was associated with poor physical QoL but not mental QoL. This study highlights the importance of regular assessments of QoL and need for strategies to improve physical QoL in breast cancer survivors with CVD.

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Oncology
Social Sciences, Biomedical
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