CVD Risk Increased 6-Fold Following Pneumonia, Sepsis Hospitalization

Hospitalization for pneumonia or sepsis is associated with a 6-fold increased risk of cardiovascular disease within 1 year, and the risk persists for at least 5 years, according to the results of a recent study.

While previous research has shown that serious infections in adulthood are associated with subsequent short-term cardiovascular risk, the effects of these infections on long-term risk is less well defined.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For their study, researchers examined data from 236,739 men born from 1952 to 1956, of whom 46,754 had call-cause cardiovascular disease, including 10,279 with coronary heart disease and 3438 with stroke.

Overall, they found that the risk of cardiovascular disease following hospitalization for sepsis or pneumonia was highest in the first year after hospitalization (hazard ratio {HR] 6.33), and persisted during the second (HR 2.47) and third (HR 2.12 years following hospitalization. The elevated risk persisted for at least 5 years (HR 1.87).

These results suggest “a period of vulnerability when health professionals and patients should be aware of the heightened risk for cardiovascular disease,” the researchers concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Bergh C, Fall K, Udumyan R, et al. Severe infections and subsequent delayed cardiovascular disease [published online August 1, 2017]. Eur J Prev Cardiol. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/2047487317724009.