The paper is published in the European Heart Journal. It utilizes data from the large-scale Moli-Sani population study, coordinated by the Epidemiology and Prevention Unit of the Neuromed Institute.
Researchers monitored 779 Italian adult men and women for 15 years. At the point of enrollment, they had been diagnosed with cancer. Their condition was assessed using the Life’s Simple 7 (LS7) index, developed by the American Heart Association. It gauges seven classic lifestyle-related cardiovascular disease risk factors: smoking, physical activity, diet, body weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose. Employing this instrument, the authors examined how committed participants were to healthy routines and analyzed the effect of these routines on the overall risk of mortality.
The findings demonstrated that for patients adhering to healthy habits, the risk of death dropped by 38%, whereas improvement in each item of the LS7 index was associated with a 10% reduction in cancer mortality.
The scientists concluded that the index, created to measure conventional cardiovascular risk factors, can also serve as a prognostic instrument for cancer survival.
According to the study, a considerable portion of the link between a healthy lifestyle and reduced mortality can be accounted for by three biological variables common to both groups of ailments: mild inflammatory processes, heart rate, and blood Vitamin D levels. This information suggests a shared biological substrate connecting the two categories of pathologies.
About the Author
