Purpose: To investigate the cardiovascular mortality risk among lung cancer patients compared to the general population. Methods: Using data from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program, we conducted a population-based cohort study including 278,418 lung cancer patients over 30 years old between January 1, 1990, and December 31, 2020 as well as the general population. Poisson regression was employed to calculate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for cardiovascular mortality. Results: Patients exhibited a significantly higher incidence rate ratio (IRR) of cardiovascular mortality risk compared to the general population [IRR 1.74, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.71-1.77]. The risk was most pronounced in patients aged 30-79 years (IRR 2.61, 95% CI 2.55-2.66), peaking at ages 30-34 (IRR 48.93, 95% CI 21.98-108.92). Elevated cardiovascular mortality risks were observed across all subgroups, including diseases of the heart (IRR 1.79, 95% CI 1.75-1.82), cerebrovascular diseases (IRR 1.52, 95% CI 1.45-1.59), and other cardiovascular diseases (IRR 1.78, 95% CI 1.67-1.90). The first month post-diagnosis presented the highest risk for ages 30-79 (IRR 12.08, 95% CI 11.49-12.70) and ≥80 years (IRR 4.03, 95% CI 3.70-4.39). Clinical characteristics significantly modified cardiovascular mortality. Conclusions: Integrating cardiovascular disease monitoring and proactive management into lung cancer treatment protocols is essential to the improvement of overall survival and quality of life for lung cancer patients, particularly those who were young or with advanced tumor stage.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

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Publicly available datasets could be accessed from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) database.