Advancing the CV Care of the Oncology Patient: Black Patients Found to Have Increased Odds of Cardiotoxicity Following Cancer Treatment

Black patients have 71% greater odds of cardiotoxicity following cancer treatment compared with White patients, according to a new meta-analysis presented at ACC's Advancing the Cardiovascular Care of the Oncology Patient 2023 conference taking place April 14-16 in Washington, DC, and virtually.

Wondewossen Gebeyehu, BSc, et al., reviewed 7,057 studies reporting on cardiovascular toxicity in cancer patients of different racial/ethnic backgrounds receiving chemotherapy, using various databases including Medline, Embase, Pubmed, The Cochrane Database for Systematic Reviews and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Of these studies, 24 including 683,749 patients were included in the final analysis.

Results showed that Black race or African ancestry was associated with increased odds of chemotherapy-associated cardiotoxicity (unadjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.71; 95% CI, 1.40-2.10) as well as increased odds of a congestive heart failure diagnosis (unadjusted OR, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.68-2.19).

According to the researchers, their findings highlight the need for further investigation to determine underlying factors contributing to these disparities so they can be reduced.

"For clinicians, it is important to be aware of these higher odds of cardiotoxicity faced by Black patients," said Gebeyehu, the study's lead author. "Understanding these disparities will hopefully lead to clinicians having more conversations around reducing cardiovascular risk associated with chemotherapy and targeted efforts to cater to groups at higher risk."

ACC's Advancing the Cardiovascular Care of the Oncology Patient course, co-directed by Ana Barac, MD, PhD, FACC, and Bonnie Ky, MD, MSCE, FACC, brings together clinicians and researchers from across the globe to share emerging strategies and best practices for managing the cardiovascular health of cancer patients.

Additional research to be presented during the conference include:

  • Assessment of Detectable Atherosclerosis on Computed Tomography Imaging in Breast Cancer Patients Entering Treatment
  • Prevalence of Statin Use and Dyslipidemia Screening For Secondary Cardiovascular Prevention in Patients With Cancer
  • SGLT2 Inhibitors are Associated With a Lower Risk of Malnutrition and Cachexia in Patients With Heart Failure Receiving Anthracycline Treatment

View the full agenda here and access live coverage of the meeting on Twitter by following @ACCinTouch.

Clinical Topics: Cardio-Oncology, Cardiovascular Care Team, Diabetes and Cardiometabolic Disease, Dyslipidemia, Lipid Metabolism, Nonstatins, Novel Agents, Statins

Keywords: Anthracyclines, Cardiotoxicity, Cachexia, Breast Neoplasms, Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors, Sodium-Glucose Transporter 2 Inhibitors, Odds Ratio, Sodium-Glucose Transporter 2, Prevalence, Cardiovascular Diseases, Social Media, Antibiotics, Antineoplastic, Risk Factors, Malnutrition, PubMed, Dyslipidemias, Atherosclerosis, African Americans, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Early Detection of Cancer, Systematic Reviews as Topic


< Back to Listings