Cardio-oncology & otherMeta-analysis
Heart Failure and Cancer: Incidence and Mortality Patterns, A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies and randomised trials
Authors' conclusion
HF is associated with a higher incidence of cancer, although with marked heterogeneity among studies and cancer types.
Study context
- Population
- Individuals with and without heart failure (HF), reporting cancer incidence and/or mortality during follow-up
- Participants
- 8,979,195 individuals · 12 studies
- Comparison
- HF vs no HF
- Outcome
- Incidence of any cancer
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
Hazard ratio
1.33
95% CI 1.14–1.54
HF vs Non-HF
HR 1.33 (95% CI 1.14–1.54)
Further pooled results
Site-specific cancer incidence
- Lung cancer, HR
- 1.70 (95% CI 1.26-2.29)
- Colorectal cancer, HR
- 1.28 (95% CI 1.11-1.48)
- Breast cancer, HR
- 1.19 (95% CI 1.04-1.37)
- Prostate cancer: no increased incidence
Cancer incidence by analytical strategy
- Matched HF and non-HF cohorts reported higher risk estimates than covariate adjustment without matching
Mortality
- Mortality data sparse and heterogeneous
Original publication
Heart Failure and Cancer: Incidence and Mortality Patterns, A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Eur J Heart Fail. Published 25 August 2026. doi:10.1093/ejhf/xuag265
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it