Deen L, et al. - Among patients with breast cancer, researchers evaluated ethnic differences in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in the Netherlands. Compared with Dutch women with breast cancer, Surinamese and Turkish women with breast cancer have a disadvantage with regard to cardiovascular outcomes.

Methods

• It was a nationwide register-based cohort study.
• Study participants were all women with a first admission for breast cancer (n=127,714) between 1996 and 2010 in the Netherlands.
• Using Cox proportional hazard models, differences in cardiovascular disease (CVD) admission, CVD mortality and overall CVD event, which comprised a CVD admission and/or CVD mortality, between the largest ethnic minority groups (Surinamese, Moroccan, Turkish, Antillean and Indonesian) and the Dutch general population (henceforth, Dutch) were examined.

Results

• The study results showed that the incidence of cardiovascular outcomes varied by ethnic group.
• Compared with Dutch women with breast cancer, the incidence of an overall cardiovascular event was significantly higher for women with breast cancer from Suriname (HR 1.46; 95% CI 1.29 to 1.64) and Turkey (HR 1.25; 95% CI 1.03 to 1.51).
• Compared with Dutch women with breast cancer, Indonesian women with breast cancer had a significantly lower risk (HR 0.88; 95% CI 0.81 to 0.96) of a cardiovascular event.
• It was noted that the risk of a cardiovascular event did not differ between Moroccan and Dutch women with breast cancer.