Abstract
BackgroundCardiovascular disease and malignancy have numerous similarities and possible interactions, as these diseases share several risk factors, epidemiological features and biological signaling pathways. Data regarding the risk of malignancy in patients with aortic aneurysm (AA) are scarce. We aimed to determine whether patients with AA have an increased risk of malignancy.Materials and MethodsThe data for the nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study described herein were obtained from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). We selected adult patients who had been newly diagnosed with AA and were followed up between 2000 and 2010. We excluded patients who had been diagnosed with AA and malignancy prior to the date of the AA diagnosis. The control cohort was selected from individuals who had no history of AA and was selected with 1:4 matching according to co-morbidities and medication history. The outcome was a diagnosis of malignancy and the cumulative incidence of AA.ResultsA total of 10,933 patients diagnosed with AA were identified. The patients with an AA had a significantly higher cumulative risk of developing malignancies in subsequent years than the patients without an AA (log rank test < 0.001). Similarly, patients with malignancies had a significantly higher cumulative risk of developing an AA in subsequent years than patients without malignancies (log rank test < 0.001).ConclusionsPatients with an AA were shown to have a substantially increased risk of developing a variety of malignancies compared with patients without AAs. Healthcare professionals should be aware of this increased risk when treating patients with AAs.
Highlights
Aortic aneurysms(AAs) are a common cause of sudden death
Materials and Methods: The data for the nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study described were obtained from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD)
Patients with an aortic aneurysm (AA) were shown to have a substantially increased risk of developing a variety of malignancies compared with patients without AAs
Summary
Aortic aneurysms(AAs) are a common cause of sudden death. Most AAs are discovered accidentally, but progressive aneurysmal enlargement can lead to rupture. Commonly considered two separate disease entities, CVD and malignancy have numerous similarities and possible interactions, as they share several risk factors, epidemiological features and biological signaling pathways [3]. Advances in molecular biological techniques have led to the discovery of increasing evidence suggesting that several related biological signaling pathways are associated with the development of malignancies and AAs. Recent studies have shown that the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK),and hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) pathways in addition to inflammatory pathways regulate malignant cell initiation, proliferation, migration and invasion [4,5,6] and that these pathways are active participants in the pathogenesis of AAs. Cardiovascular disease and malignancy have numerous similarities and possible interactions, as these diseases share several risk factors, epidemiological features and biological signaling pathways. We aimed to determine whether patients with AA have an increased risk of malignancy
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