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- Role of Social Determinants of Health and Vascular Aging as Markers of Cardiovascular Disease due to Cancer Therapy
Clinical Trial
Role of Social Determinants of Health and Vascular Aging as Markers of Cardiovascular Disease due to Cancer Therapy
Cardio-oncology is a relatively new field that has been created to bridge the clinical gap between oncology and cardiology to take multi-disciplinary care of cancer patients undergoing cancer treatment and cancer survivors who have undergone cancer therapy who are now presenting with cardiovascular disease (CVD). One of the challenges in the field of cardio-oncology is to perform focussed risk mitigation for patients undergoing cancer therapy. A significant number of cancer patients suffer from CVD in form of hypertension, atherosclerotic CVD (ASCVD), and congestive heart failure among other manifestations. It is well known that a lot of these conditions are caused by an increase in biological aging of vasculature beyond chronological age due to risk factors such as diabetes and hyperlipidemia. The actual change may be manifested by several mechanisms but it is likely that cancer state, cancer treatment, and surviving cancer may all have a negative effect on the vasculature and cause vascular aging. There is no definite evidence of that but in this study, we hope to biobank the blood, and stool of patients to be able to perform detailed proteomic, and microbiome analysis to study changes in biological age in association with chronological age. The reason for racial disparities in outcomes after cancer development, including CVD, has been associated with various social determinants of health (SDOH) that include historical monetary lending practices to reduce access of poorer patients to a higher-income neighborhood, also known as redlining. The neighborhoods these patients end up residing in lack higher quality food, healthcare, safe space to exercise, and have levels of cancer risk factors such as pollution and smoking. However, the exceptionally higher risk of CVD after cancer therapy has not been linked to these risks although plausible that it is fully related to adverse SDOH and not genetic differences.
Eligibility Criteria
- Inclusion Those with a new diagnosis of cancer at any stage of cancer but pre-cancer treatment visit the cardio-oncology clinic. age >= 18 years not pregnant or prisoner Retrospective component: They should have had significant contact with the Georgia Cancer Center which would be defined by receiving at least 1 treatment for their cancer at the Georgia Cancer Center. Any level of contact less than that would be considered administrative and those patients will not be included. Exclusion Unwilling to comply with the follow-up schedule; Inability or refusal to give informed consent by the patient or a legally authorized representative; Non-English speaking Pregnant or breastfeeding