People with high blood pressure are more likely to develop cancer or die as a result of the disease, according to the results of a new study from King’s College London in the UK.

According to Telegraph Medical Correspondent Stephen Adams, the study, which involved nearly 600,000 middle-age Europeans, found that those with the highest blood pressure readings were 49% more likely to die of cancer-related causes over a 12-year period.

“As blood pressure rose, so did their chances of developing a range of cancers including those of the bowel, lungs, skin and kidneys,” Adams wrote. “Those men whose blood pressure was in the highest fifth of participants were almost a third (29 percent) more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than those who blood pressure was in the bottom fifth.”

While the study found that hypertension had less of an effect on women, those with the highest blood pressure readings were 24% more likely to die from cancer than those with the lowest blood pressure readings, according to the Telegraph. Furthermore, the Adams noted that hypertension “appeared to raise the risk of liver, pancreatic, cervical, womb and skin cancer.”