Study: Breast Cancer Survivors at Reduced Risk of Heart Attack

Postmenopausal women who are successfully treated for early-stage breast cancer appear to be at significantly lower risk of subsequently suffering a heart attack, according to University of Chicago researchers.

The researchers arrived at this conclusion based on a study of almost 30,000 women -- including nearly 6,000 women who had been treated for breast cancer.

They reported in the journal Cancer that breast cancer survivors were 34 percent less likely to be hospitalized with a heart attack, and that the protective effect appeared to be strongest in women with known risk factors for heart disease.

The researchers theorized that the reduction in risk of heart attacks might be attributable to higher-than-average levels of estrogen, which are thought to accelerate the development of breast cancer but protect women from heart disease.

The drug tamoxifen, which modulates the effects of estrogen, is frequently given to women who had breast cancer, and also is thought by some researchers to protect the heart.

"That survivors' risk varies with previous cardiac risk factors may be consistent with effects of selective estrogen receptor modulators," the researchers concluded. "This phenomenon should be evaluated further with individual-level data containing information on patient cardiac risk factors and tamoxifen use to help clarify the mechanism behind the risk reduction."

Other Sources: Cancer