Cancer survivors in rural and persistently impoverished US counties face the highest excess cardiovascular mortality, indicating need for targeted cardio-oncology care.
Is cardiovascular mortality risk after cancer diagnosis associated with county-level characteristics such as rurality and poverty?
Cancer survivors face excess cardiovascular mortality, particularly in rural and impoverished counties, highlighting the need for targeted cardio-oncology care in vulnerable communities.
Cancer survivors experience substantial and sustained excess CVD mortality, with the greatest disparities in rural and persistently impoverished counties. These findings highlight the need to integrate cardiovascular surveillance into survivorship care and expand access to cardio-oncology services in socially vulnerable communities.
Zhu et al. (2026) studied this question. Cancer survivors in rural and persistently impoverished US counties face the highest excess cardiovascular mortality, indicating need for targeted cardio-oncology care.