New research indicates that people with invasive cancer face an elevated risk of experiencing a stroke, especially in the first few months after diagnosis and especially if they have certain types of cancer.

The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

Although multiple studies have demonstrated a link between cancer and stroke risk, specifics related to timing and cancer types are unclear.

To investigate, researchers analysed information from two registries in Israel: the Israel National Cancer Registry and the Israel National Stroke Registry.

The team assessed the incidence of new ischemic strokes within 1 year of diagnosis among 182,221 adults aged ≥40 years who were diagnosed with a first invasive cancer in 2014–2021.

Overall, there were 80% more strokes in patients with cancer than expected based on information from the general population, with 62 out of every 10,000 patients experiencing a stroke.

Risk peaked during the first 3 months after diagnosis, when patients had a 2.5-times higher stroke rate than expected.

The highest stroke rates occurred in patients with pancreatic cancer (a 5.9-times higher rate than expected, with 162 out of every 10,000 patients) and lung cancer (a 3.9-times higher rate).

Breast and prostate cancers were not linked to a higher risk of stroke.

Compared with the general population, stroke risk appeared to be especially elevated in younger patients and those with advanced cancer.

“Our findings identify the first months after a cancer diagnosis as a critical window of heightened ischemic stroke risk,” said corresponding author Carmit Libruder, MSc, of the University of Haifa and the Israel Ministry of Health.

“The marked variation across cancer types, with particularly pronounced risk elevations in pancreatic and lung cancers, highlights the importance of identifying patients who may benefit from closer cerebrovascular risk assessment.”

Source: Wiley