Chronic diseases help with cancer survival

There are a lot of patients with cancer who need to fight against other diseases as well. Comorbidity is an increasing problem and increases risks to cancer and other medical conditions as well. The type of cancer a certain patients has influenced how other diseases work in the same person, such as cardiovascular disease, depression, arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes. These findings were published in the scientific journal Clinical Epidemiology. Lower survival rate expected Survival rates are poorer from cancer, if the state of health is poorer, according to Henrik Toft Sørensen, professor of clinical epidemiology at Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital. “Our studies show that other diseases have a very significant importance for survival, and we can see that these patients have not experienced the same progress in survival rates as other cancer patients have experienced during the last 15 years”, he said. Patients with other conditions It is considered that 40% of cancer patients suffer from another medical condition as well, 30% have one or two more conditions, while 10% have over three additional disorders. This problem is caused by age and unhealthy lifestyle with factors including obesity, alcohol consumption and smoking.