Association of myocardial injury with adverse long-term survival among cancer patients

Abstract Aims Over time, cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths increasingly exceed those from malignancy among cancer survivors. However, the association of myocardial injury with long-term survival (beyond 3 years) in cancer patients has not been previously described. Methods and results The high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) and morbidities databases from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999–2004) were linked with the latest mortality dataset isolating records were respondents reported cancer diagnosis by a healthcare professional. Myocardial injury was then determined by elevated hs-cTn. A total of 16 225 560 weighted records (1058 unweighted) were included in this observational study, with myocardial injury identified in 14.2%. Those with myocardial injury had progressively worse survival at 5 (51.6 vs. 89.5%), 10 (28.3 vs. 76.0%), and 15 years (12.6 vs. 61.4%) compared with those without myocardial injury. After adjusting for baseline characteristics, those with myocardial injury had an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 2.10 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.09–2.10, P < 0.001] for all-cause mortality, 2.23 (2.22–2.24, P < 0.001) for cardiovascular mortality, and 1.59 (95% CI 1.59–1.60, P < 0.001) for cancer mortality compared with those without myocardial injury. Among patients with no pre-existing CVD, the hs-cTn I Ortho assay was a strong independent predictor of all-cause (aHR 6.29, 95% CI 6.25–6.33, P < 0.001), CVD (aHR 11.38, 95% CI 11.23–11.54, P < 0.001), and cancer (aHR 5.02, 95% CI 4.96–5.07, P < 0.001) mortalities. Conclusion As a marker for myocardial injury, hs-cTns were independently associated with worse long-term survival among cancer patients with a stronger relationship with all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortalities using hs-cTn I Ortho assay.