Cardioprotective therapies, especially statins and antiplatelet agents, may be underutilized in patients with a prior or current history of cancer compared with patients without cancer and comparable cardiovascular risk factors, according to a study published June 16 in JACC: CardioOncology.

Rossana Untaru, RN, et al., examined the use of cardioprotective medications in a population with a high risk of cardiovascular disease with or without a history of cancer. Cardioprotective medication prescription was assessed pre-admission in this single center, cross-sectional observational study of 333 patients admitted to the cardiology unit between July 2018 and January 2019.

Results showed that of the 69 patients with cancer, 25 (36%) had established cardiovascular disease prior to their cancer diagnosis, while 44 (64%) developed cardiovascular disease after their cancer diagnosis. Researchers found that cardiovascular risk factors were similar in patients with a prior or current history of cancer compared with those without a prior or current history of cancer.

Furthermore, the researchers found there were no significant differences in age, body mass index, gender, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia or atrial fibrillation between these two groups. However, they add that patients with a prior or current history of cancer had lower utilization rates of antiplatelet therapies and statins, compared with those without prior cancer.

"This [study] highlights practice and policy gaps and the need to develop strategies to improve guideline-directed cardioprotective therapies in cardio-oncology," the authors conclude.

Clinical Topics: Arrhythmias and Clinical EP, Cardio-Oncology, Cardiovascular Care Team, Diabetes and Cardiometabolic Disease, Dyslipidemia, Prevention, Atrial Fibrillation/Supraventricular Arrhythmias, Nonstatins, Novel Agents, Statins, Hypertension

Keywords: Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors, Cardiovascular Diseases, Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors, Atrial Fibrillation, Cross-Sectional Studies, Body Mass Index, Risk Factors, Diabetes Mellitus, Dyslipidemias, Drug Prescriptions, Hypertension, Neoplasms, Cardiology, Cardiotoxicity, Cardio-oncology

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