Patients’ Perception of CVD Risk, Management in Cancer Shows a Lack of Awareness

People with cancer may not be as informed about their risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), but once they understand their risk, they feel it’s an important issue and deserves more attention. These findings were published in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship. 

A group of researchers sought to determine patients’ perception of CVD risks and its management during cancer treatment. They conducted interviews with 15 patients, of whom 6 were male, from a large metropolitan healthcare center in Southern Australia.  

The semi-structured interviews prompted participants to reflect upon their experiences and perceptions regarding CVD risk in cancer. Two themes were identified: awareness of CVD risk in cancer is limited and preferences on when, how, and who should be involved in CVD care are diverse. 

Four subthemes were identified within the second theme: 

• Some patients with cancer prioritized their cancer treatment over CVD care.
• Patients with cancer felt that care of CVD issues can be managed by a variety of healthcare providers.
• Patients had diverse preferences about timing (after treatment vs earlier in the cancer continuum), how much (basic or as needed vs detailed information), and the manner of providing information about CVD risk.
• Patients expressed diverse preferences for the mode (printed materials, online resources) and components (signs of CVD to watch for, contact information for appropriate healthcare providers) used to facilitate CVD care.

Most participants were relatively unaware of their increased risk of CVD in cancer. Given the existence of guidelines that describe the importance of CVD risk identification, monitoring, and management during cancer care, the researchers considered cancer patients’ lack of awareness concerning. However, participants indicated a desire to learn more, which coincides with prior findings that show having this type of information can improve a patient’s sense of control over their situation and possibly their clinical outcomes, too. 

The study had some limitations. The participants were recruited from 1 healthcare center and were from 1 ethnic group, which limited extrapolation of findings to other contexts. 

“People with cancer tend to have limited awareness of CVD risk and have diverse preferences regarding how to prioritize and manage it,” the researchers wrote in conclusion. “Future research should employ codesign methodology to engage patients in the development of flexible, tailored resources to increase awareness of CVD risk and strategies for management.”

Reference

Knowles R, Kemp E, Miller M, Koczwara B. “There could be something going wrong and I wouldn’t even know”: a qualitative study of perceptions of people with cancer about cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and its management. J Cancer Surviv. Published online September 29, 2023. doi:10.1007/s11764-023-01468-0