Background: The contribution of emotional distress and stress to cardiac health in adult survivors of childhood cancer has not been reported, despite evidence of causal associations in the general population. Methods: Comprehensive medical assessments and standardized measures of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and perceived stress were performed on 3,267 survivors in the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort (median[range] 29.9[18.0-64.5] years of age; 7.7[0-24.8] years at diagnosis; 49% female). Physical outcomes included hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, cardiomyopathy, dysrhythmia (grades 2-4 per the NCI CTCAE criteria), myocardial infarction (grades 3-4), and metabolic syndrome (yes/no). Multivariable generalized linear models examined associations between these outcomes with any distress/stress, adjusted for demographics, cumulative anthracycline dose and thoracic radiation, physical activity, BMI, smoking, and alcohol intake. Unadjusted longitudinal associations between distress/stress and new onset cardiac conditions were examined among survivors who completed repeat medical assessment(s) (n = 1748; median follow-up = 3.9 years). New onset conditions were defined as a change from grade 0-1 at baseline to ≥ grade 2 at follow-up. Results: Survivor reported distress/stress (29% overall) was more prevalent in those with hypertension (28.2% vs 19.5%, P< 0.001), dyslipidemia (16.4% vs. 11.3%, P< 0.001), diabetes (9.4% vs. 6.9%, P= 0.02), and metabolic syndrome (32.2% vs. 23.2%, P< 0.001), but not among dysrhythmia, cardiomyopathy, and myocardial infarction. In separate multivariable models, distress/stress was associated with hypertension (RR = 1.24, 95% CI 1.07-1.43), dyslipidemia (RR = 1.29, 95% CI 1.03-1.61), and metabolic syndrome (RR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.17-1.54). Baseline distress/stress was associated with new onset hypertension (OR = 1.33, 95% CI 0.94-2.01), dyslipidemia (OR = 1.37, 95% CI 0.94-1.87), and dysrhythmia (OR = 2.78, 95% CI 1.12-6.91). Conclusions: Emotional distress/stress is associated with adverse cardiovascular health and may serve as an intervention target for improving cardiac health outcomes among survivors of childhood cancer.

U.S. National Institutes of Health Other Foundation