Weight gain after breast cancer diagnosis linked to greater heart failure risk
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Key takeaways:
- Women who gained weight after breast cancer diagnosis had higher risk for heart failure.
- Women who maintained obesity from diagnosis through follow-up did not exhibit increased risk for heart failure.
Weight gain after a breast cancer diagnosis elevated a person’s risk for heart failure, according to results of an observational study in the Republic of Korea.
Researchers did not observe any association between weight loss and heart failure.
“The findings underscore the importance of effective weight intervention in the oncological care of patients with breast cancer, particularly within the first few years after diagnosis, to protect cardiovascular health,” Wonyoung Jung, MD, PhD, MSc, postdoctoral researcher of medicine at Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues wrote.
Background and methods
Certain breast cancer therapies can have cardiotoxic effects, which can lead to adverse events such as heart failure.
Women with breast cancer often gain weight, and this also can increase risk for heart failure, according to study background.
Jung and colleagues used the National Health Insurance Service database of the Republic of Korea to investigate the effect weight gain had on heart failure among women with breast cancer.
The cohort included 43,717 women (mean age, 53.7 years; standard deviation, 9.6 years) diagnosed between 2010 and 2016 who had no prior heart failure before breast cancer diagnosis or within 1 year after.
The cohort had a mean prediagnosis BMI of 23.5 (standard deviation, 3.2) and a postdiagnosis BMI of 23.3 (standard deviation, 3.2).
Associations between weight gain and heart failure after breast cancer diagnosis served as the primary endpoint.
Results and next steps
In all, 21.8% of the cohort lost weight following diagnosis, 63.9% maintained their weight, 10.7% experienced weight gain of 5% to 10%, and 3.% experienced weight gain of more than 10%.
After mean follow-up of 4.67 years (standard deviation, 1.83 years), heart failure risk significantly increased among women who gained between 5% and 10% body weight after diagnosis (adjusted HR = 1.59; 95% CI, 1.16-2.17), as well as among those who gained more than 10% body weight (adjusted HR = 1.85; 95% CI, 1.15-2.98).
Women with obesity at diagnosis who maintained obesity through the follow-up period did not exhibit increased risk for heart failure.
Researchers acknowledged study limitations, including its observational nature, lack of diversity and the intent of weight change within the cohort.
“Further intervention studies (eg, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists) are warranted,” Jung and colleagues wrote.
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