Markers of inflammation and infection influence the outcome of patients with baseline asymptomatic carotid lesions: a 5-year follow-up study.
OBJECTIVE
It is still in debate whether the evaluation of markers of infection and inflammation may be of importance for cerebrovascular and cardiovascular prevention, and we aimed to investigate this field in a prospective 5-year clinical follow-up study in patients with early stages of atherosclerosis.


METHODS
We studied 668 subjects divided in 3 groups according to the results of carotid ultrasound examination: (1) normal subjects, if intima-media thickness (IMT) was <0.9 mm; (2) with IMT, if IMT was between 0.9 and 1.5 mm; and (3) with asymptomatic carotid plaque, if IMT was >1.5 mm. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors were investigated, and laboratory analysis included measurement of plasma lipids, fibrinogen, C-reactive protein, IgG antibodies for helicobacter pylori (HP), cytotoxic HP, cytomegalovirus, and chlamydia pneumoniae.


RESULTS
Cerebrovascular or cardiovascular events were registered in 18% of patients during the follow-up, and at multivariate analysis we found that the high levels of fibrinogen (P<0.0001) and C-reactive protein (P=0.014), the seropositivity to cytotoxic HP (P=0.001) and chlamydia pneumoniae (P=0.026), the presence of IMT or asymptomatic carotid plaque (P<0.0001), and the total burden of infections (P<0.0001) were the variables predictive of the clinical events.


CONCLUSIONS
Beyond traditional cardiovascular risk factors, markers of inflammation and infections seem to significantly influence the occurrence of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular events in patients with baseline asymptomatic carotid lesions.
Corrado
Egle
E
Division of Cardiology, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Rizzo
Manfredi
M
Tantillo
Rosalba
R
Muratori
Ida
I
Bonura
Francesca
F
Vitale
Giustina
G
Novo
Salvatore
S
D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000473:pathology; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000096:biosynthesis; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D002319:Cardiovascular System / Q000473:pathology; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000473:pathology; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D016993:Chlamydophila pneumoniae / Q000378:metabolism; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000378:metabolism; D018450:Disease Progression; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000096:biosynthesis; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000737:chemistry; D007239:Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007249:Inflammation / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D013997:Time Factors; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000473:pathology; D017540:Tunica Media / Q000473:pathology; D014463:Ultrasonography
D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D008055:Lipids; D005340:Fibrinogen; D002097:C-Reactive Protein