Assessment of comorbid pathology in patients with breast cancer

The incidence of cardiovascular diseases associated with the treatment of malignancies varies widely depending on the antitumor therapy, its duration, and concomitant diseases of a patient.

Objective. To assess comorbid pathology in patients with breast cancer (BC).

Material and methods. The study included 100 women with breast cancer aged 30 to 80 years. The patients were divided into 5 groups according to their age. The following were assessed: primary and concomitant diseases, history of the primary disease, results of instrumental methods of investigation – ECG, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and metabolic therapy. The Charlson comorbidity index was calculated, and the one-year death risk and 10-year survival rate in patients with BC were assessed.

Results. The following comorbid pathologies were the most common in the study group patients: hypertension, angina pectoris, chronic gastritis, and myocardiodystrophy. Increasing prevalence of comorbid pathology, significant growth of Charlson comorbidity index score, and deterioration of prognostic indexes were revealed in patients older than 40.

Conclusion. In patients with BC aged 40 and older, cardiovascular pathology, particularly hypertension, angina pectoris, myocardiodystrophy, prevails in the comorbidity structure. Patients most often had a combination of cancer with two or more comorbidities. A significant increase in the Charlson comorbidity index score was observed with age in all patients with BC. According to the prognostic value of the Charlson comorbidity index, 56% of the studied patients with BC have a high risk of one-year mortality and a low 10-year survival rate.