A new study finds people who are hospitalized after developing pneumonia may also have an increased risk for developing heart disease, especially if they're over age 65.
"Pneumonia is a bacterial infection of the lungs and essentially, what happens is the bacteria invade the sacs in your lungs and it's like a cut that gets infected. You get inflammation in there," explained Dr. Neal Chaisson, who treats pneumonia patients at Cleveland Clinic.
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University of Ottawa researchers began tracking the link among nearly 1,300 people who developed pneumonia during the course of the study. Participants ranged in age from 45 to over 65 and were followed for ten years. Results show hospitalization for pneumonia was associated with increased short-term and long-term risk of cardiovascular disease.
Researchers say the findings suggest pneumonia may be as big a risk factor for heart disease as smoking or diabetes, especially in adults older than 65 who are hospitalized. Chaisson says the results also point out the importance of getting pneumonia treated in a timely fashion.
"The way that we treat pneumonia is often with antibiotics and that's to take care of the bacterial infection and then we depend on the body's immune system to try and "mop up" sort of, the mess that's in there and clear up the lungs," he said.
Complete findings for the study can be found in the Journal of the American Medical Association.