Cancer diagnosis linked to nearly double stroke rate

Getty/izusek

By Olivia Bowthorpe

People with cancer may be at nearly twice the risk of ischaemic stroke in the year after diagnosis, with the rate appearing to be particularly high in the first three months, a large study suggests.

Researchers took data from the Israel National Cancer Registry and Israel National Stroke Registry to investigate the risk of first ischaemic stroke among more than 180,000 adults aged 40 and over who were diagnosed with invasive cancer.

Overall, cancer patients had an 80% higher rate of ischaemic stroke than would have been expected based on the general population.

The risk was highest in the first three months after cancer diagnosis, when the rate of ischaemic stroke was 2.5 times higher than expected.

It fell to 1.6 times higher than expected at three to six months and 1.5 times higher at six to 12 months.

Stroke risk varied widely according to cancer type. Pancreatic cancer was linked to a six-fold higher rate of ischaemic stroke, and lung cancer to a four-fold higher rate.