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C ardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients who have cancer is increasingly recognized as a clinical problem, particularly because the increasing survival and lifespan of many patients make addressing comorbidities such as CVD more pressing. Although hypertension is a risk factor for CVD and many patients with cancer have hypertension, few studies have looked at the association between hypertension in patients with cancer and the risk of CVD events. A recent large epidemiological study by Japanese researchers fills this gap.1 The study was based on nearly 34,000 patients with a history of select cancers and found that those patients who had untreated high blood pressure (BP), those who had an elevated BP, and those who developed stage 1 or 2 hypertension at a mean follow-up of 2.6 years had a greater risk of experiencing CVD events. The finding suggests the clinical importance of hypertension in patients with cancer and the need to adequately address it. “Multidisciplinary collaboration—oncologists and cardiologists— is needed to improve the clinical outcomes of patients with cancer,” state the study authors, who were led by Hidehiro Kaneko, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Tokyo in Japan. Agnes S. Kim, MD, PhD, an associate professor of medicine and medical director of the Cardio-Oncology Program at UConn Health in Farmington, Connecticut, also underscores the importance of managing hypertension in patients with cancer to reduce both shortand long-term CVD events. “The management of cancer and cardiovascular risk factors must go hand-in-hand via a multidisciplinary team approach among oncologists, primary care providers, cardiologists, and other providers to minimize cancer treatment interruptions and decrease long-term CV events,” she says.