Breast cancer patients with a history of heart disease are more likely to have advanced tumors at the time of diagnosis, a new study suggests.
Researchers examined data on about 20,000 breast cancer patients 66 years and older. About half had cardiovascular disease. Overall, patients diagnosed with advanced breast cancer were 10 percent more likely to have cardiovascular disease than people diagnosed with early-stage tumors, according to study findings published in JAMA Network Open.
“There is growing evidence that cardiovascular disease, in particular cardiovascular events like a heart attack, leads to a suppressed immune system,” says the senior study author, Kevin Nead, MD, an assistant professor of epidemiology and radiation oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
“When the immune system is suppressed, it may be less effective at doing its job to prevent the development, growth, and spread of cancer,” Dr. Nead adds.
The Connection Between Heart Disease and Breast Cancer
The link between heart disease and breast cancer progression in the study appeared to involve the most common type of breast cancer, so-called hormone receptor–positive (HR+) tumors, which are fueled by hormones like estrogen and progesterone. People with advanced HR+ breast cancer were 11 percent more likely to have heart disease than individuals with early-stage HR+ breast cancer.
The study found that people with locally advanced breast cancer — meaning tumors had spread into surrounding tissue and lymph nodes but not to distant parts of the body — were 9 percent more likely to have cardiovascular disease.
It also found that people with metastatic breast cancer — meaning tumors had spread to distant parts of the body — were 20 percent more likely to have cardiovascular disease.
Breast Cancer and Heart Disease May Have Common Underlying Factors
The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how heart disease might directly cause or accelerate the progression of breast cancer.
It’s possible, however, that cardiovascular disease and breast cancer may share some root causes, says Alexandra Thomas, MD, an oncologist at the Duke Cancer Institute in Durham, North Carolina, who wasn’t involved in the new study.
Like Nead, she notes that immune suppression from heart disease might cause cancer to grow faster. “Or inflammation from the cancer might cause heart damage, such as the development of plaques in the coronary arteries,” Dr. Thomas says.
One limitation of the study is that participants were predominantly white, and it’s possible that outcomes might differ for people from other racial or ethnic groups. The study also didn’t look at women younger than 65.
Heart Healthy Habits May Protect Against Some Cancers
Study results add to the evidence that lifestyle choices known to protect the heart may have additional disease-prevention benefits.
“A heart-healthy lifestyle can help prevent breast cancer and contribute to less-advanced disease at diagnosis, which ultimately may have a greater chance of cure,” Nead says. “The results of our study also suggest that women with cardiovascular disease could benefit from initiating breast cancer screening earlier or undergoing more frequent mammograms.”
Regular exercise, a heart-healthy diet, and avoidance of smoking and significant stress are among the lifestyle choices that can reduce the risk of breast cancer, says Daniel Addison, MD, an associate professor, cardiologist, and the director of the cardio-oncology program at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus.
“Controlling heart disease is another opportunity to lower cancer risk,” says Dr. Addison, who wasn’t involved in the new study. “Periodic screening for heart disease, especially after intense cancer treatment, may also help prevent or control heart disease in cancer patients.”
Emily Kay Votruba has copyedited and fact-checked for national magazines, websites, and books since 1997, including Self, GQ, Gourmet, Golf Magazine,Outside, Cornell University Press, Penguin Random House, and Harper's Magazine. Her projects have included cookbooks (Padma Lakshmi's Tangy Tart Hot & Sweet), self-help and advice titles (Mika Brzezinski's Know Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You're Worth), memoirs (Larry King's My Remarkable Journey), and science (Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Learn, by Cathy Davidson). She started freelancing for Everyday Health in 2016.
Lisa Rapaport is a journalist with more than 20 years of experience on the health beat as a writer and editor. She holds a master’s degree from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and spent a year as a Knight-Wallace journalism fellow at the University of Michigan. Her work has appeared in dozens of local and national media outlets, including Reuters, Bloomberg, WNYC, The Washington Post,Los Angeles Times, Scientific American, San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune, Huffington Post, Yahoo! News, The Sacramento Bee, and The Buffalo News.
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
Angelov I et al. Cardiovascular Disease and Breast Cancer Stage at Diagnosis. JAMA Network Open. January 2, 2025.
