Childhood cancer survivors are increasing in number thanks to advances in drug and radiation therapies. For this, they and their families will always be grateful. However, there is a downside for childhood cancer survivors. Previous research has shown how childhood cancer survivors are at increased risk of further cancers and also of hormone abnormalities and growth and developmental delays. A new study now shows that childhood cancer survivors also have a higher than expected risk of various kinds of heart disease.

Researchers for the US-based Childhood Cancer Survivor Study studied over 14,000 childhood cancer survivors who had been diagnosed under the age of 21 with leukemia, brain cancer, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, kidney cancer, neuroblastoma, soft tissue sarcoma, or bone cancer between 1970 and 1986. The eldest will now be approaching the age of 60 and many of the other childhood cancer survivors will be entering middle age. They were asked about their health and compared to a group of nearly 4,000 of their siblings (so that the occurrence of childhood cancer and its treatment was the main difference between the two groups).

The childhood cancer survivors had an increased risk of all kinds of heart disease – heart failure, heart attack, heart valve abnormalities and heart inflammation – compared to their siblings. The increased risk is linked to the cancer therapy, not the cancer itself. The anthracycline drugs were linked to a two to five times greater risk of heart failure and other heart problems in those childhood cancer survivors who had received them, compared to those who had not. A similar link was found with radiotherapy exposure. Of course, today’s childhood cancer treatments are more tailored to avoid exposing the heart than those of the past. But it is the health of childhood cancer survivors going forward into their 60s and beyond that concerns the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study group. They advise that childhood cancer survivors need very regular heart health checks. If you survived childhood cancer, be sure to make sure your heart health checks are up to date.

Source:

Mulrooney D et al Cardiac outcomes in a cohort of adult survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer: retrospective analysis of the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study cohort. BMJ Online First 9^th December 2009 doi:10.1136/bmj.b4606