The atherogenic effects of smoking appear to be at least partially mediated by chronic infections, according to results of a prospective population-based survey in Italy published in the September issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Dr. Stefan Kiechl, of Innsbruck University Hospital in Austria, and colleagues first contacted the 826-member study cohort in 1990. Ultrasonography of the left and right internal and common carotid arteries was performed at baseline and in 1995.
Among the subjects, whose ages ranged from 40 to 79 at baseline, 54.8% had never smoked, 25.7% were past smokers and 19.5% were current smokers. Early atherogenesis, defined as “the occurrence of new plaques in previously normal vessel segments,” developed in 332 subjects during the 5-year study period.
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