Hospitalization for Pneumonia Linked to Risk for CVD

Compared outcomes of occurrence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) over a 10-year period in a large group of both middle-aged and elderly adults hospitalized with pneumonia and control participants.More information, here.

Study drew participants from 2 community-based cohorts: Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS): 5888 participants aged 65 years or older enrolled from 1989-1994; 4265 eligible participants; 591 participants with pneumonia matched with 1182 controls. Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC): 15,792 participants aged 45 to 64 years, enrolled from 1987-1989; 13,810 eligible participants; 680 participants with pneumonia matched with 1360 controls.

Of the 591 participants with pneumonia, 206 (34.85%) had CVD events after pneumonia hospitalization. The 10-year risk of CVD was significantly greater among participants with pneumonia hospitalization (P

Of the 680 participants with pneumonia, 112 (16.5%) had CVD events after pneumonia hospitalization. Participants with pneumonia hospitalization had a significantly higher risk of CVD vs controls (P

“Hospitalization for pneumonia is associated with increased short-term and long-term risk of CVD, suggesting that pneumonia may be an important risk factor for CVD.”“This association persisted after adjusting for demographics, the burden of cardiovascular risk factors, and crude measures of frailty, and it was observed across a range of infection severity, was validated in a cohort of younger adults, and it was robust to sensitivity analyses using different control groups and stringent case definitions for pneumonia hospitalization.”

“The magnitude of risk for CVD associated with pneumonia was similar or higher compared with the risk of CVD associated with traditional risk factors, such as smoking, diabetes, and hypertension.”“Because we included only participants without CVD prior to pneumonia, our findings suggest that hospitalization for pneumonia should be considered an independent cardiovascular risk factor in future strategies for screening and primary prevention of CVD.”