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May 8 (UPI) -- Survivors of uterine cancer are more likely to face cardiovascular problems several years after treatment, according to a new study. Researchers analyzed medical records for 2,648 endometrial cancer survivors from the Utah Population Database collected between 1997 and 2012, finding the increased risk for cardiovascular conditions. The findings were published Tuesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
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Among women, uterine cancer is the 10th-most common cancer among women in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and prevention.
The five-year survival rate ranges from 15 percent to 90 percent, depending on the stage, according to the American Cancer Society.
Previous research has mainly looked at quality of life, mental health, obesity and adverse sexual side effects among uterine cancer survivors. The researchers say their study is the first to compare uterine cancer survivors and with the general population for hypertension risk.
"Endometrial cancer survivors are at higher risk for various adverse long-term cardiovascular outcomes compared with women from the general population," the researchers wrote. "This study suggests that increased monitoring for cardiovascular diseases may be necessary for endometrial cancer patients for 10 years after cancer diagnosis."
About 25.7 percent of cancer survivors received heart disease diagnoses with five to 10 years of cancer diagnosis. Endometrial cancer survivors had a much higher risk of cardiovascular disease -- 47 percent more likely at one to five years after cancer diagnosis, and 33 percent more likely five to 10 years after initial cancer diagnosis.
Up to five years afterward, researchers saw an elevated risk for peripheral and vascular atherosclerosis, hypotension, phlebitis, thrombophlebitis, thromboembolism, other circulatory diseases and other diseases of the veins and lymphatics.
They also found a greater risk for those who had radiation therapy or chemotherapy than surgery, with age and obesity also having an effect on cardiovascular disease risk.
