on January 5, 2006
Published online before print January 5, 2006, doi: 10.1161/01.ATV.0000202664.76816.bb
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Submitted on August 16, 2005
Accepted on December 21, 2005
Increased Aortic Intima-Media Thickness in 11-Year-Old Healthy Children With Persistent Chlamydia pneumoniae Seropositivity
Iina Volanen *;
From the Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine (I.V., M.J.J., M.A., K.K., S.A.), the Departments of Pediatrics (I.V., K.K., O.S.), Clinical Physiology (M.J.J., O.T.R.), Virology (R.V.), and Medicine (T.R., J.V.), University of Turku; the Department of Health and Functional Capacity (J.M.), National Public Health Institute, Turku; and the Department of Internal Medicine (M.J.J.), Satakunta Central Hospital, Pori, Finland.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: iina.volanen{at}utu.fi.
Objective--The relationship between Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cpn) infection and arterial measures of preclinical atherosclerosis has remained controversial. Because atherogenesis begins in early life, we examined whether carotid and aortic intima-media thickness (IMT) and brachial artery endothelial function are associated with Cpn seropositivity in children.
Methods and Results--Cpn-specific IgG and IgA antibodies were assessed by enzyme immunoassay in 199 healthy children followed-up annually from 7 to 11 years of age. Carotid (cIMT) and aortic IMT (aIMT), and brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) were measured in 137 of the 199 children at the age of 11 years using high-resolution ultrasound. Children with persistent IgG and/or IgA seropositivity to Cpn had significantly increased aIMT compared with seronegative children (IgG
45 and IgA12 enzyme immunounits) or children with transient Cpn seropositivity (seronegative, 0.496 [0.054]; transient, 0.494 [0.061]; and persistent, 0.532 [0.086] mm; P<0.05 for trend). This trend was not explained by traditional atherosclerotic risk factors or pubertal stage. cIMT and FMD were not associated with Cpn seropositivity.
Conclusions--Eleven-year-old children with persistent Cpn seropositivity show increased aIMT but not cIMT, suggesting that Cpn may affect the aortic wall, the site where the earliest atherosclerotic lesions are known to occur, in otherwise healthy children.
Key words: antibodies • atherosclerosis • infection • pediatrics • ultrasound
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