Patients who have had cancer are at increased risk of hospitalisation for other conditions even years after their treatment, a study shows.

The first large population-based study to look at the incidence of other diseases in adults with 12 of the most common cancers shows the risk of admission for almost a dozen disease categories is significantly higher than for those who had never had cancer.  

In general, the risk of hospitalisation was highest in the first five years after diagnosis and dropped over time, said the researchers from the Danish Cancer Society Research Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“Overall, the risks of hospitalisation in most diagnostic groups and cancer types were higher in the first few years after diagnosis than those in cancer-free comparison people, after which the risk decreased or leveled with time, although the rates were still significantly higher in the following years than those in the comparison group,” they said.