Kawamoto R, Doi T, Tokunaga H, Konishi I
Department of Internal Medicine, Nomura Municipal Hospital, Ehime.
Intern Med. 2001 Mar;40(3):208-13. doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.40.208.
Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae) is an important pathogen for infections of the respiratory tract, and there are recently also a number of reports suggesting its relation with atherosclerosis. This study was performed to clarify the relation between C. pneumoniae infection and sclerotic lesions of the common carotid arteries.
We evaluated sclerotic lesions of common carotid arteries by ultrasonography in 147 in-patients (mean age, 70 years; 95% confidence interval, 68-72) in the internal medicine ward, and studied the relation of the known risk factors for atherosclerosis including C. pneumoniae infection. An ultrasonograph and 7.5 MHz linear type B-mode probe were used by a specialist to evaluate sclerotic lesions of common carotid arteries. C. pneumoniae infection was determined by measuring anti-C. pneumoniae IgG specific antibody level (IgG index) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method with serum of fasting blood, which had been preserved at -70 degrees C.
IgG index (p=0.0263), from multiple regression analysis using various risk factors as explanatory variables, was a significant independent contributing factor (R2=0.3465, p<0.0001) along with known risk factors such as male (p=0.0289), age (p=0.0007), Brinkman index (p=0.0067), hypertension (p=0.0443) and T-Chol (p=0.0220).
This study confirmed that the observations of an association between antibody against C. pneumoniae and common carotid atherosclerosis in Western nations is also present in Japan. Our results suggests that C. pneumoniae infection is also an important risk factor for common carotid atherosclerosis.
肺炎衣原体是呼吸道感染的一种重要病原体，最近也有许多报告表明其与动脉粥样硬化有关。本研究旨在阐明肺炎衣原体感染与颈总动脉硬化病变之间的关系。
我们对内科病房的147名住院患者（平均年龄70岁；95%置信区间，68 - 72岁）进行超声检查，评估颈总动脉的硬化病变，并研究包括肺炎衣原体感染在内的已知动脉粥样硬化危险因素之间的关系。由一名专家使用超声仪和7.5MHz线性B型探头评估颈总动脉的硬化病变。采用酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）法，用保存在-70℃的空腹血血清测量抗肺炎衣原体IgG特异性抗体水平（IgG指数），以确定肺炎衣原体感染情况。
以各种危险因素作为解释变量进行多元回归分析，IgG指数（p = 0.0263）是一个显著的独立影响因素（R2 = 0.3465，p < 0.0001），其他已知危险因素如男性（p = 0.0289）、年龄（p = 0.0007）、布氏指数（p = 0.0067）、高血压（p = 0.0443）和总胆固醇（p = 0.0220）也具有显著影响。
本研究证实，西方国家观察到的抗肺炎衣原体抗体与颈总动脉粥样硬化之间的关联在日本也存在。我们的结果表明，肺炎衣原体感染也是颈总动脉粥样硬化的一个重要危险因素。
