Vanderbilt Health researchers discovered that cancer patients who have clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) are at increased risk for heart disease following cancer treatment, according to a release.
The findings were published on January 8 in JAMA Oncology. They emphasize the potential benefits of screening patients for CHIP before they undergo cancer treatment so they can be more closely monitored for heart complications.
The researchers were able to determine which patients had CHIP by using Vanderbilt Health’s biorepository, BioVU, to link electronic health records with whole-genome sequencing data. They compared the cardiovascular health outcomes of the patients with CHIP to outcomes of patients without the condition. All the patients had been diagnosed with solid tumors, and none had heart failure, ischemic heart disease or arrhythmia before undergoing cancer treatment.
Over a 10-year period following treatment, patients with CHIP had a significantly higher incidence of heart failure (20.3% versus 14.5%) and ischemic cardiovascular disease (25.3% versus 18.5%). The effect was amplified in patients who received more intensive chemotherapy.
The patients received chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, or a combination of the treatments. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of noncancer deaths among cancer survivors.
The researchers analyzed data from 8,004 patients, and 549 of them were identified with CHIP. To their knowledge, the study is the largest to date evaluating the association between CHIP and cardiovascular disease in patients with solid tumors who underwent cancer treatment. Most patients with CHIP were male (54% versus 45%) and had hypertension (78% versus 69%) compared to patients without the condition.
