During 2002-2018, the prevalence of comorbid chronic conditions among cancer survivors increased, according to a study published in Cancer. Changchuan Jiang, MD, MPH, and colleagues calculated the age-sex-race/ethnicity-adjusted prevalence rates and estimated the population sizes for hypertension, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, COPD/asthma, hepatitis, arthritis, liver disease, kidney disease, and morbid obesity among cancer survivors. They observed increasing trends in the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease, and morbid obesity among 30,728 cancer survivors, while decreased trends were seen for ischemic heart disease, COPD, and hepatitis. The number of cancer survivors with multiple chronic conditions (MCC; three or more health conditions) increased from 4.7 to 8.1 million, for a prevalence increase of 43.7% to 46.6%. The increase was more pronounced among those aged 18-44.
