Long term vascular complications of Coxiella burnetii infection

doi:10.1136/bmj.320.7226.58/a

BMJ 2000;320:58 ( 1 January )

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Long term vascular complications of Coxiella burnetii infection

Cardiovascular risk factors cannot be ignored

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Cardiovascular risk factors cannot be ignored

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ In their paper on the potential for infection by Coxiella burnetii to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease Loveyet al suggest that the established mode of transmission of C burnetiiis unlikely to be associated with risk factors for cardiovasculardisease. They also say that the unavailability of baseline dataon such risk is unlikely to influence their findings.¹ However,in an outbreak of Q fever pneumonia affecting 147 patients inthe United Kingdom in 1989 (not referred to by Lovey et al) wefound that of 110 patients in whom smoking history was availablefor the time of the infection, 60 were current smokers, 28 wereex-smokers, and only 22 had never smoked. ² ³

A subsequent case-control study in this cohort confirmed smoking to be a risk factor for Q fever.⁴ Follow up of 87 (59%)patients in clinic nine years after the original outbreak identified31 (35%) as current smokers (mean age 51.2 (SD . . . [Full text of this article]

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