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clinmed/2001070004v1 (July 31, 2001)
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Chlamydia Pneumoniae infection in the hospitalized patients with history of old and recent myocardial infarction from Romania.

Introduction: Numerous recent works shown a relation between Chlamydia Pneumoniae (CP) infection and coronary arteriosclerosis, confirmed by demonstration of the presence of the germ in coronary atheroma and, recently, by demonstration of the effects of the macrolids (roxitromycin, azytromycin) on evolution and complications after the myocardial infarction (MI). Objectives: We proposed to study the incidence of CP infection in the subjects after old or recent MI, in comparison with the matched non-coronary disease subjects and the relations with other coronary risk factors, in the first study from Romania. Methods: Using the microimmunofluorescence method for IgG and IgM we tested 110 subjects with history of old MI (65 subjects) and recent acute MI (45 subjects). Mean age of all patients: 56.5 years, 70 (64%) was males. The comparison group was composed from 105 matched subjects without any coronary disease: mean age 55.8 years; 66 (63%) males. Results: Anti-CP AB was detected in 29% of the subjects with coronary disease and in 7.6% in the comparison group (p<0.005, RR=1.78, OR=4.95). We observed an increased incidence of the smoking in the positive subjects for anti-CP AB versus the subjects without AB (38% versus 20%, p<0.01), and an inverse relation in the alcohol consumers (23% alcohol consumers in CP positive group, versus 32% alcohol consumers in CP negative group, p<0.01). Other clinical data don’t differ significantly in the study groups (obesity, arterial hypertension etc.). Conclusion: Serologic evidence of CP infection is common amongst subjects with old and recent MI and the incidence is significantly increased in comparison with non-coronary disease subjects. The smoking seems to increase and the alcohol consumption seems to reduce the incidence of the presence of anti-CP AB, in a Romanian sample of subjects. The data are compatible with the hypothesis of the pathogenic intervention of CP infection in coronary arteriosclerosis, so much discussed in the recent works. Key Words: Chlamydia Pneumoniae, arteriosclerosis, myocardial infarction, coronary risk factors