Cardiovascular diseases by death rate outstripped cancer
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Modern methods of treating breast cancer are so effective that many patients, despite their diagnosis, continue to live. A study of more than 60,000 women aged 66 and older showed that cardiovascular diseases are the most serious cancer competitor for mortality. They kill more than a third of patients.
Scientists from the University of Colorado took up research on this topic. For nine years, they analyzed the causes of death of more than 60,000 women in the US who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.
In total during this time, half of the patients died. However, it turned out that cancer caused death of only one third of them - 15.1%. The rest - more than two thirds - died of other causes (emphysema, chronic bronchitis or diabetes). The first place in the compiled list was taken by heart disease. They accounted for 15.9% of deaths.
It turns out that cardiovascular diseases have pushed back the cancer, which was considered to be the main killer, responsible for almost a quarter of all deaths. According to scientists, a positive lesson can be learned from this discovery.
"Breast cancer is not necessarily a death sentence, and patients should take care of their health in order to reduce the risk of death from heart disease and other age-related diseases," explained the researcher Jennifer Patnaik.
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