Infections raise risk of heart attacks and strokes

PATIENTS who go into hospital with common respiratory or urinary tract infections are more likely to suffer heart attacks or strokes, according to a new study.

Researchers from Aston University looked at data from 34,027 patients who were treated for common respiratory or urinary tract infections.

They found that after successful treatment for their infections, they were 40 per cent more likely to suffer heart disease and 150 per cent more likely to have a stroke.

The findings are drawn from a study which looked at 14 years of data from 1.2 million patients.

The researchers compared 34,027 patients who had been admitted with a urinary or respiratory tract infection with an age and sex-matched control group without infection.

Cardiologist Dr Rahul Potluri, of Aston University, said: “It is notable that infection appears to confer as much, if not more, of a risk for future heart disease and stroke as very well established risk factors such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Although inflammation has been linked to atherosclerosis (the build-up of fatty material inside your arteries), this is the largest study to show that common infection is such a significant risk factor.”

The effects of infection were of similar magnitude to diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol - and more than obesity, according to the study.

Dr Potluri said: “Our figures suggest that those who are admitted to hospital with a respiratory or urinary tract infection are 40% more likely to suffer a subsequent heart attack, and 2.5 times more likely to have a stroke, than patients who have had no such infection - and are considerably less likely to survive from these conditions.”