Some infections linked to heart attack and stroke

A new study has revealed that the risk of a heart attack or stroke increases when a patient has suffered from a common infection, while patients admitted to hospital with a urinary or respiratory tract infection are far more likely to experience potentially fatal health complications.

Researchers from the Aston Medical School in Birmingham and the University of Cambridge analysed data from 1.2 million patients and found that those who were admitted to hospital for pneumonia or urinary tract infections were 40 percent more likely to have a heart attack within eight years. They were also 150 percent more likely to suffer a stroke.

These findings show that prior infections have a more negative impact on heart health compared to obesity, which raises the risk of strokes and heart attacks by about 25 percent. The data also suggest that patients who suffered from one of these common infections were three times more likely to die than those without prior infection after a heart attack and almost twice as likely to die if they had a stroke.

“Although inflammation has been linked to atherosclerosis [when plaque builds up in arteries], this is the largest study to show that common infection is such a significant risk factor,” said Dr Rahul Potluri, Cardiologist at Aston University, to the Daily Mail.

This could be the case because infections cause long-term inflammation in blood vessels, making them more prone to clotting and clogging, the study suggests.

“The data illustrate a clear association between infections and life-threatening heart conditions and strokes, and the figures are too huge to ignore. Serious infections are amongst the biggest causes of death in the UK directly, but our research shows infections that are severe enough to lead to hospitalisation may present a delayed risk in the form of atherosclerotic diseases,” said lead author Dr Paul Carter, an academic clinical fellow at the University of Cambridge, to the Daily Mail.

The research team advises prescribing statins or other heart medications after a patient suffers from an infection, just as doctors would for someone with high blood pressure, raised cholesterol, or diabetes as a preventive measure to reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke over time.

This story was originally published in the Global Health and Travel issue of August-September 2018.