Pneumonia hospitalization a risk factor for cardiac events

Hospitalization for pneumonia contributes to an increased risk of ischaemic cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the short and long term among middle-aged and older adults, a study has found.

The study used data from the China Kadoorie Biobank and included 512,726 participants aged 30–79 years from 10 areas across the country. Between 2004–2008 and 2017, a total of 5,444 individuals had new-onset ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and 4,846 had ischaemic stroke (IS), all of whom were also hospitalized for pneumonia during the follow-up.

Analyses performed using a self-controlled case-series method revealed that the risk of ischaemic CVD rose by as much as fourfold during the first three days after pneumonia hospitalization, with relative incidences (RIs) of 4.24 (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 2.92–6.15) for IHD and 1.85 (95 percent CI, 1.02–3.35) for IS.

The risk gradually declined over time, although it remained elevated until days 92–365 for IHD (RI, 1.23, 95 percent CI, 1.12–1.35) and days 29–91 for IS (RI, 1.25, 95 percent CI, 1.05–1.48).

Of note, the association between pneumonia and ischaemic CVD risk strenghthened in the presence of other cardiovascular risk factors, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for both IHD and IS, and diabetes and smoking for IHD (p_interaction<0.05).

Furthermore, the risk of ischaemic CVD was more pronounced among older adults (age ≥70 years; p_interaction<0.001 for IHD and p_interaction=0.033 for IS).