As heart, kidney and metabolic health worsen, cancer risk may rise: Study

Key Points:

• A new study finds that as cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome progresses to advanced stages, the risk of developing several cancers increases significantly, with stage 3 patients 25% more likely and stage 4 patients 30% more likely to be diagnosed with cancer within four years compared to early-stage patients.
• CKM syndrome involves the coexistence of heart disease, kidney problems, and metabolic issues such as obesity and diabetes, affecting about one in three U.S. adults who have at least three risk factors for the condition.
• The study, using Japanese health data from 2014 to 2023 and published in Circulation, controlled for age, gender, and lifestyle factors, highlighting that cancer risk rises with the accumulation of dysfunction across cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic systems.
• Researchers emphasize the importance of considering cancer risk alongside cardiovascular disease risk in CKM syndrome patients, though the observational nature of the study limits conclusions to associations rather than causality.
• Since the study population was homogenous Japanese individuals, further research is needed to confirm whether these findings apply to more diverse populations such as those in the U.S.