Risk of various cancers in adults with abdominal aortic aneurysms

The cause of death for patients with an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) can be related to the AAA itself. However, cancer-related mortality could also be a contributing factor. In the present study, we examined the hypothesis that an association exists between AAAs and certain cancers.

Information from 2009 to 2015 was extracted from the Korean National Health Insurance Service database. We included 14,920 participants with a new diagnosis of an AAA. Propensity score matching by age and sex with disease-free patients was used to select the control group of 44,760 participants. The primary end point of the present study was a new diagnosis of various cancers.

The hazard ratio (HR) for cancer incidence was higher in the AAA group than in the control group for hepatoma, pancreatic cancer, and lung cancer (HR, 1.376, 1.429, and 1.394, respectively). In the case of leukemia, the HR for cancer occurrence was not significantly higher in the AAA group than in the control group. However, when stratified by surgery, the HR was significantly higher for the surgical group (HR, 3.355), especially for endovascular aneurysm repair (HR, 3.864).

We found that AAAs are associated with an increased risk of cancer, in particular, hepatoma, pancreatic cancer, and lung cancer, even after adjusting for several comorbidities. Thus, continued follow-up is necessary for patients with an AAA to permit the early detection of the signs and symptoms of cancer.