Key clinical point: Chemotherapy with anthracycline or trastuzumab increased the risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in breast cancer (BC) survivors, with the risk persisting beyond 10 years after BC diagnosis and being high in women age < 65 years.
Major finding: Anthracycline or trastuzumab vs no chemotherapy was associated with a 53% higher risk for incident CVD (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.53; 95% CI 1.31-1.79), particularly in women age < 65 years (aHR 1.70; 95% CI ≥1.19 to ≤2.45). The risk for CVD was seen beyond 5 years after BC diagnosis (aHR5-<10 years 1.85; 95% CI 1.44-2.39; aHR10+ years 1.83; 95% CI 1.34-2.49).
Study details: This retrospective cohort study included 10,211 female BC survivors who received anthracycline or trastuzumab (n = 2712), other chemotherapies (n = 1185), or no chemotherapy (n = 6314), with a median follow-up period of 5.79 years.
Disclosures: This study was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the US National Cancer Institute. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Vo JB, Ramin C, Veiga LHS, et al. Long-term cardiovascular disease risk after anthracycline and trastuzumab treatments in U.S. breast cancer survivors. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2024 (May 8). doi: 10.1093/jnci/djae107 Source