Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction Have 1.5 Times Higher Risk of Hematologic Cancer

Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital Professors Kwon Sungsoon and Yoon Seokyun Publish Research Findings

A study has found that patients who have experienced acute myocardial infarction are at a higher risk of developing hematologic cancers compared to those without a history of acute myocardial infarction.

Professor Sungsoon Kwon, Department of Cardiology, Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital (left), and Professor Seokyun Yoon, Department of Hemato-Oncology. Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital

Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital announced on June 9 that a research team led by Professor Sungsoon Kwon of the Department of Cardiology and Professor Seokyun Yoon of the Department of Hemato-Oncology recently published these findings in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) in a paper titled "Risk of Hematologic Malignancies in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study."

The team led by Professors Kwon and Yoon used data from the National Health Insurance Service to compare 103,686 patients diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction between 2003 and the end of 2021 with a control group of 103,686 individuals matched for age and sex. The results showed that the group with a history of acute myocardial infarction had a 1.49 times higher risk of developing hematologic cancers compared to the control group. Consistent results were observed in sensitivity analyses and standardized incidence ratio analyses after adjusting for various variables.

Professor Kwon stated, "Although acute myocardial infarction and hematologic cancers are major causes of mortality, the relationship between the two diseases has not been clearly established, which is why we conducted this study." He added, "As shown in the results, when conducting long-term follow-up of patients with acute myocardial infarction, it is important to consider the possibility of developing hematologic cancers."

Professor Yoon explained, "Clonal hematopoiesis, which is gaining attention as a risk factor for acute myocardial infarction, is also closely associated with hematologic cancers. Based on this, we hypothesized that the incidence of hematologic cancers might increase in patients with acute myocardial infarction and proceeded with the study."

Meanwhile, the two professors, who are the corresponding authors of this paper, were also selected as "People Who Made Korea Shine" by the Biological Research Information Center (BRIC). BRIC annually selects Korean researchers who have published life science-related papers in world-renowned journals that are either in the top 3% of their field or have an impact factor of 10 or higher, based on the Journal Citation Reports (JCR).

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