Cancer in chronic heart failure patients in the GISSI-HF trial

Cancer complicating heart failure (HF) is an emerging issue. We investigated it in the GISSI-HF trial, which uniquely included patients with malignancies if deemed likely to allow follow-up.

At enrolment, 256 of 6913 participants in GISSI-HF (3.7%) had a tumour diagnosis, which was malignant (cancer) in 145 (2.1%). Patients with cancer were older and more often former smokers, had lower body mass index, lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), less implanted devices, lower glucose and haemoglobin and higher uric acid levels than those without cancer. During a median 4-year follow-up, cardiovascular (CV), non-CV non-cancer and cancer death occurred in 1477, 272 and 220 subjects (75%, 13.8% and 11.2% of total mortality, respectively). Cancer at trial entry portended an increased risk of all-cause mortality after accounting for age and confounders (HR 1.33, 95%CI 1.02-1.73), which was attributable to cancer-specific mortality. Among the 6657 patients without any tumour at enrolment, 1879 subsequently died. CV, non-CV non-cancer and cancer causes accounted for 1422 (75.7%), 261 (13.9%) and 196 (10.4%) of these deaths, respectively, median time to specific death being 22, 25 and 30 months (P < .0001). Patients facing cancer vs CV death had lower NYHA class, slower heart rate, higher blood pressure, higher LVEF, shorter HF history, less diuretic use, lower creatinine and uric acid and higher haemoglobin and cholesterol.

Even when considered not aggressive, concomitant cancer worsens HF prognosis. The inverse relationship between HF severity and cancer death in the absence of prior tumour warrants further study.