Childhood infections can lead to early onset of heart disease, study reveals

A new study links infectious diseases like typhoid, measles, chicken pox, bronchitis, tuberculosis and dengue during childhood to an increased risk of heart attack during adulthood, EurekAlert reports. The study, which was presented at Acute Cardiovascular Care Association meeting in Vienna, Austria, was conducted by Dr. Andriany Qanitha, a PhD candidate at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Researchers conducted a population-based case-control study among participants aged 28 to 55 years old in Makassar, Indonesia. Participants were mostly male, with an average of 47 years of age. The researchers divided them into groups of two, the first with 153 patients with the first acute coronary syndromes (ACS) before they were 56 years old, and the second group of 153 participants who had no history of ACS. Researchers also defined severe infection as those that caused fever for three or more days or hospitalization due to infectious diseases.

According to the International Business Times, the researchers gathered data through interview questionnaires and diagnostic testing and determined traditional cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors such as sex, age, occupation, monthly income, educational level, dietary pattern and physical activity. The participants' smoking status, family history of heart disease, diabetes, sudden cardiac death, and known history of hypertension and diabetes were also taken into consideration. Additionally, the scientists used a Framingham risk score (FRS) to determine if a participant was at a low, intermediate, or high risk for developing early CVD.

NDTV reports that according to researchers, results showed that infection during childhood and adolescence led to a three times more increased occurrence of heart attack later in life.

"Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one killer worldwide, including in Indonesia where it accounts for 31.9% of all deaths," Dr. Qanitha explained. "CVD risk factors are rising rapidly in South-East Asia, particularly in young people. Most Indonesian CVD patients are under 56 years old and still economically productive. This very young CVD onset raises the question of whether local circumstances may play a role."

She added, "Infectious diseases such as typhoid fever, measles, chicken pox, bronchitis, tuberculosis and dengue fever are common in Indonesian children. We hypothesized that infections experienced in childhood and adolescence might adversely affect the vasculature and initiate atherosclerosis, leading to premature acute coronary syndromes (ACS) or heart attacks."

Results revealed that patients with childhood infections were at higher risk for premature ACS, based on the Framingham risk scores. Qanitha said, "One explanation is that infection initiates chronic inflammation and atherosclerosis in the arteries. It could be that infection modifies CVD risk factors and leads to ACS."