Contact: Jess Gomez, LDS Hospital
(801) 408-2182
[email protected]
NEW STUDY BY LDS HOSPITAL, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY & WASHINGTON HOSPITAL LINKS INFECTIONS AND CARDIOVASCULAR DEATH
SALT LAKE CITY -- Researchers at LDS Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, and the Washington (DC) Hospital Center have new evidence that a number of infectious bugs -- including hepatitis A and herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 -- are strongly associated with heart attacks and cardiovascular death.
In a major new prospective study of nearly 900 heart disease patients, researchers at the three centers found a significant association between infectious viruses and bacteria and risk of heart attack or cardiovascular death. Specifically, researchers found that the more infectious agents patients tested positive for, the more likely they were to die of a heart attack.
"The results of this study add further evidence that infection plays an important role in cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular death," says one of the study's authors, Joseph B. Muhlestein, MD, director of LDS Hospital's Cardiac Research Laboratory.
Researchers from the three centers will present results from their study today at the American College of Cardiology international meetings in Anaheim, CA.
In previous studies, researchers at LDS Hospital have connected one infectious bacteria -- a respiratory bug known as Chlamydia pneumoniae -- with coronary artery disease, but this is the first prospective study of its kind to link multiple infectious bugs with an increased risk of cardiovascular death.
"This study confirms the idea that a variety of infectious agents are at work in this process and that cardiovascular disease may not be linked to just one bug as was originally hypothesized," says Dr. Muhlestein.
Researchers from the three centers studied the connection between six infectious agents and the risk of mortality for the 890 patients in the study and then adjusted for other risk factors. Patients were then followed for three years. They found that the mortality rate for patients who tested positive for all six agents -- cytomegalovirus (CMV), hepatitis A, herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and H. Pylori. -- was 6.5 times higher than it was for patients who had no evidence of virus or bacteral infection.
"We found that the mortality rate for these patients essentially rose in relation to the number of infectious agents that they tested positive for," says Dr. Muhlestein. "Patients with three bugs were more than three times likely to die than those who didn't have an infection."
Researchers say the more they learn about the link between infections and heart disease, the more can be done to develop a therapy to treat patients at high risk for death. LDS Hospital, for example, has already joined with 25 U.S. medical centers in a national $11 million study -- the largest of its kind -- to examine the effectiveness of antibiotic treatment for patients with coronary artery disease. LDS Hospital is the only cardiac center in the Intermountain West participating in the clinical trial, which is being conducted under the direction of the National Institutes of Health.
"We are thrilled to join with our colleagues at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and the Cardiovascular Research Institute at Washington (DC) Hospital Center to examine this critical health issue, which has become a focal point of our cardiac research here at LDS Hospital," says Dr. Muhlestein.
LDS Hospital, part of the Intermountain Health Care (IHC) system, serves as a cardiac referral center for heart patients throughout the Intermountain West, and is one of the leading cardiac research and treatment centers in the nation.
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