Polyvascular Disease and the Incidence of Cancer in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Based on the possible relation of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease to the development of cancer, we examined whether polyvascular disease, as a surrogate marker of the severity of atherosclerosis, is associated with the incidence of cancer in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).A total of 8,856 patients with CAD between January 2009 and July 2014 were eligible for this observational study. Two cohorts were established based on the presence or absence of polyvascular disease (i.e., polyvascular disease and CAD only) and tracked for the incidence of cancer and all causes of death. Polyvascular disease was defined when accompanied by diagnosed aortic and/or peripheral arterial disease or other arterial diseases at enrollment.With a median follow-up of 1,095 d, the incidence of cancer was markedly higher in the cohort of 716 patients with polyvascular disease than in the cohort of 8,140 patients with CAD only (8.8% vs. 4.9%,The presence of polyvascular disease may be associated with the incidence of cancer in patients with CAD, implying a pivotal role of the severity of atherosclerosis in cancer development (ClinicalTrials.gov. number: NCT04198896).