Abstract
Background - Chronic Chlamydia pneumoniae and Helicobacter pylori infections could be a risk factor for ischemic heart disease (IHD), possibly by increasing fibrinogen levels. The aim of our study was to evaluate changes in fibrinogen level in patients with IHD and H pylori and/or C pneumoniae positivity randomly assigned to antibiotic treatment. Methods and Results - Eighty-four patients with chronic IHD, H pylori and/or C pneumoniae antibodies, and normal acute-phase reactants were randomly assigned to treatment or no treatment. Treatment consisted of omeprazole, clarithromycin, and tinidazole in H pylori-positive patients and clarithromycin alone in C pneumoniae-positive patients. The effect of treatment and other baseline variables on fibrinogen levels, determined at 6 months, was evaluated by multivariate analysis. Treatment significantly reduced fibrinogen level at 6 months in the overall study population and in the groups of patients divided according to H pylori or C pneumoniae positivity. In the 43 treated patients, mean (±SD) basal fibrinogen was 3.65±0.58 g/L, and mean final fibrinogen was 3.09±0.52 g/dL (P
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1555-1559 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Circulation |
Volume | 99 |
Issue number | 12 |
Publication status | Published - Mar 30 1999 |
Keywords
- C pneumoniae
- Fibrinogen
- H pylori
- Ischemia
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physiology
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine