Authors:
Burgner DP, Cooper MN, Moore HC, Stanley FJ, Thompson PL, de Klerk NH, Carter KW
Authors notes:
PLoS ONE. 2015;10(5):e0125342
Keywords:
Infection burden, hospitalisation, cardiovascular disease, infection, childhood
Abstract:
Pathogen-specific and overall infection burden may contribute to atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD), but the effect of infection severity and timing is unknown.
We investigated whether childhood infection-related hospitalisation (IRH, a marker of severity) was associated with subsequent adult CVD hospitalisation.
631 subjects with CVD-related hospitalisation in adulthood (≥ 18 years) were matched with 6310 controls.
One or more childhood (< 18 years) IRH was predictive of adult CVD-related hospitalisation.
The association showed a dose-response; ≥ 3 childhood IRH was associated with a 2.2 times increased risk of CVD-related hospitalisation in adulthood.
The association was observed across all clinical diagnostic groups of infection (upper respiratory tract infection, lower respiratory tract infection, infectious gastroenteritis, urinary tract infection, skin and soft tissue infection, and other viral infection), and individually with CVD diagnostic categories (ischaemic heart disease, ischaemic stroke and peripheral vascular disease).
Severe childhood infection is associated with CVD hospitalisations in adulthood in a dose-dependent manner, independent of population-level risk factors.