Retrospective population-based cohort study on the risk of cardiovascular disease among oesophageal cancer survivors

Introduction There is little data on the occurrence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in oesophageal cancer (OC) survivors. Risk of CVD was investigated as a composite of myocardial infarction (MI), atrial fibrillation (AF), heart failure (HF), and ischaemic stroke (IS), as well as CVD-specific death among OC survivors after surgery. Methods A population-based retrospective cohort study was performed using the Korean National Health Insurance Service database (2009–2022), including patients who underwent surgery for OC (n = 3996) and 1:3 propensity score–matched non-cancer controls (n = 11 988). Results A total of 3996 OC survivors and 11 988 non-cancer controls were included in this study. Among OC survivors and controls, 492 and 1599 incident CVD cases and 33 and 305 CVD-specific deaths were observed respectively. OC survivors showed a higher risk of CVD (cause-specific hazard ratio (csHR) 1.42, 95% c.i. 1.28 to 1.57) than controls, and patients who underwent chemoradiotherapy plus surgery were at the highest risk. The increased risk was most prominent within the first year after surgery (csHR 3.00, 95% c.i. 2.35 to 3.85), but persisted thereafter (csHR 1.23, 95% c.i. 1.10 to 1.38 at 1-year lag; csHR 1.23, 95% c.i. 1.08 to 1.40 at 3-year lag; csHR 1.34, 95% c.i. 1.14 to 1.57 at 5-year lag). This pattern was evident for MI and AF, but not for HF, IS, or CVD-specific death. Discussion There is an increased risk of CVD in OC survivors compared to controls. The risk of CVD varied by the outcome, treatment, and duration after surgery.