Risk and timing of cardiovascular death among patients with myelodysplastic syndromes

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are clonal hematopoietic stem cell disorders associated with progression to leukemia and poor survival. Clonal hematopoiesis in people without an MDS diagnosis carries an increased risk of cardiovascular death. Many clonally restricted mutations are shared between patients with MDS and those with non-MDS clonal hematopoiesis; therefore, we evaluated the risk of cardiovascular death among patients with MDS. We evaluated adults with MDS in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database of the National Cancer Institute and compared them with the general population living in the same states. We grouped histological subtypes of MDS into lower-, intermediate-, and higher-risk disease. The primary outcomes were overall survival and primary cause of death (COD) as reported to state registries. A total of 21 372 patients with MDS between 2001 and 2011 died during follow-up with a known COD. The rate of death due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) was 4613 per 100 000 person-years, compared with 2091 in the age- and-sex-adjusted US population (standardized mortality ratio, 2.21). At 24 months, the cumulative incidence of death attributed to MDS or leukemia was 23% vs 8% for CVD. Among those alive at 60 months, 27% eventually died of CVD compared with 29% from MDS or leukemia; those with lower-risk disease who survived >60 months had more deaths attributed to cardiovascular causes (30%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 26.7-33.2%) than MDS itself (24%; 95% CI, 21.4-27.5%). Patients with MDS are more likely to die of cardiovascular causes than the general population. Modifying cardiovascular risk factors, especially among those with lower- risk disease, may be warranted for MDS-related clinical care.