Adults admitted to hospital with pneumonia or sepsis may be at a raised risk of cardiovascular disease, new findings indicate.
Professor Scott Montgomery of Orebro University, Sweden, and his team analysed figures on 236,739 men born between 1952 and 1956. All the participants underwent extensive physical and psychological examinations at about age 18 years when they began compulsory military conscription. Information on their infection and cardiovascular disease rates came from national hospital records.
Follow-up continued until 2010, during which time 19.7% of the men were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. Having been admitted to hospital for pneumonia or sepsis was linked to a 6.33-fold raised risk of cardiovascular disease in the year following the infection.
Rates of cardiovascular disease remained higher – more than double the background rate – in the second and third years, and were still raised for at least five years. The researchers report that similar links were seen for coronary heart disease, stroke, and mortality from cardiovascular disease.
Findings appear in European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
"Severe infections in adulthood are associated with a contemporaneously raised risk of cardiovascular disease," said Professor Montgomery. "Whether this raised risk persists for several years after infection is less well established."
Lead author, Dr Cecilia Bergh, adds: "Our results indicate that the risk of cardiovascular disease, including coronary heart disease and stroke, was increased after hospital admission for sepsis or pneumonia. The risk remained notably raised for three years after infection and was still nearly two-fold after five years.
"Conventional cardiovascular risk factors are still important but infection may be the primary source of risk for a limited time."
Bergh C, et al. Severe infections and subsequent delayed cardiovascular disease. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology 2 August 2017; doi: 10.1177/2047487317724009
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