Background : The relationship between infection of microorganism and atherosclerosis
has been studied because the pathophysiology after infection is similar to those of cell
injury and/of lipid theory. Although there are many reports which described the
relationships between the infection of chalamydia pneumoniae and the atherosclerosis. In
Korea, even the prevalence of chlamydia infection has not been studied yet. This study
was purposed on the prevalence of chlamydia infection and it's correlation to
atherosclerosis.
Methods : 235 subjects were enrolled and age sex adjusted subjects were divided into
two groups, normal controls (n=43), atherosclerosis (AS, n=90)group ; coronary artery
disease (CAD, n=61) and cerebrovascular disease (CVD, n=29). Serum total cholesterol
(TC), triglyceride (TG), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured, LDL-cholesterol
(LDL-c) was calculated. Serum IgG chlamydia antibody were measured by ELISA
method.
Results : TG was significantly higher in AS (162.51±100.04㎎/dL vs 122.91±63.31㎎/dL,
mean±SD, p=0.019), and HDL-C was significantly higher in controls (47.30±9.88㎎/dL
vs 39.38±8.29㎎/dL, p<0.01). Levels of LDL-C and TC were not statistical significant.
Serum IgG chlamydia antibody was positive in 29.8% (70/235), 30% (27/90) in AS group
and 28% in controls and there was no statistical significance between groups (p=0.804).
Conclusion : In conclusion, there was no significant differences in positivity of IgG
chlamydia antibody in AS compared with that of controls. Overall positivity of
chlamydia antibody was lower in Korea than in other country. It is still controversial
whether Chlamydia pneumoniae is a primary etiologic agent of atherosclerosis or not.
This study could not demonstrate the relationship between chlamydia infection and
atherosclerosis in Korea. The effectiveness and indications of antichlamydial antibiotics
for prevention of cardiovascular complications in atherosclerosis and overall chlamydia
infection in general population will be needed in large scale trials.
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