Cancer patients’ families warned of deadly health risk that strikes a year after their loved one’s diagnosis
Relatives of cancer patients are almost a third more likely to develop a potentially fatal heart condition a year after their relative’s diagnosis, stark research has found.
When a loved one receives a diagnosis, it is often stressful and traumatic for the entire family.
American scientists who followed more than 150,000 family members found that they were 28 percent more likely to develop cardiovascular disease a year later.
They were also 10 percent more likely to develop a mental illness.
Experts today blame the increased risk on financial pressures and the emotional impact of treatment, urging healthcare professionals to take the findings into account.
When a loved one is diagnosed, it can be stressful and traumatic for the whole family. Pictured: Bowel cancer campaigner Dame Deborah James with her mother (centre) and daughter. Last year, her mother Heather James told The Times: ‘I think we all deal with it. Well, last year I didn’t. I actually had a panic attack on the anniversary of her death.’
Pictured: Dame Deborah James with her husband, two children and the Prince of Wales in 2022
While some warning signs are easy to recognize, such as severe chest pain, others are more vague and difficult to identify.
It also comes just months after charities warned the NHS was facing “the worst cardiac crisis in history”.
Dr. Mouneeb Choudry, lead author of the study and a urology expert at the Mayo Clinic, said: ‘A cancer diagnosis is a life-changing event for patients and their families.
“Our group’s unique access to the Utah Population Database has allowed us to create multigenerational networks that highlight the impact of a cancer diagnosis on families.
“As health care professionals, we need to take a multidisciplinary approach to addressing the stress of a cancer diagnosis. We need to help minimize the financial toxicity, the burden of treatment, and the emotional impact on both the patient and their family.”
In the study, researchers from the University of Utah reviewed health data from 77,938 family members and partners of nearly 50,000 patients diagnosed with cancer between 1990 and 2015.
They compared this with 81,022 family members and partners of almost 250,000 people who had not been diagnosed with cancer.
The scientists found that 7.1 percent of family members were diagnosed with a mental health condition within five years of diagnosis, and 7.6 percent were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease.
After one year, they had a 28 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease. After three and five years, this was 16 and 14 percent, respectively.
The chance of developing a mental disorder after a year was also 10 percent higher.
After three and five years this dropped to five and four percent.
Writing in the diary CancerThe researchers warned that parents of children with cancer had the highest risks: nearly four times higher at age 1 compared with other family members.
Diagnoses of kidney and bladder cancer also appeared to be the most stressful, while testicular cancer was the least stressful, they added.
This comes after alarming data earlier this year revealed that premature deaths from cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes, have reached their highest level in more than a decade.
The number of heart attacks, heart failure and strokes among people under 75 has fallen significantly since the 1960s, thanks to sharply declining smoking rates, advanced surgical techniques and breakthroughs such as stents and statins.
Today, rising obesity rates and associated health problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes are thought to be one of the main causes.
This graph shows the death rate from heart disease among 75-year-olds in England (blue bars), which is the number of deaths per 100,000 people, as well as the number of deaths (red line). Medical breakthroughs and advanced screening techniques helped to reduce these figures from 2004 onwards, but progress began to stall in the early 2010s before reversing in the last few years of the data
Slow ambulance response times to category 2 calls in England (which include suspected heart attacks and strokes) and long waits for tests and treatment are also thought to be responsible for the rise, which is also being felt among younger adults.
Despite claims from anti-vaxxers, cardiologists say fears that Covid vaccines have caused a rise in heart problems are completely unfounded.
Data also shows that early-stage cancer, when the disease is still easily treatable, can increase survival rates by up to eight times.
In England, more than 320,000 people, or 900 a day, are diagnosed with cancer each year. The most common types are prostate, breast, bowel and lung cancer.
But NHS cancer care repeatedly fails to meet its goals.
Figures released last month showed NHS England met just one of its three cancer diagnosis targets.
Of the 273,810 emergency referrals for cancer made by GPs in June, 76.3 percent were diagnosed or the disease was ruled out within 28 days. The target is 75 percent.
Just over two-thirds (67.4 percent) of patients started their first cancer treatment within two months of an emergency referral.
According to health care guidelines, 85 percent of cancer patients should be treated within this time frame.