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The following is a summary of “Association of modifiable risk factors and infections in patients with hypertension: a prospective cohort study” published in the October 2024 issue of Infectious Disaster by Hu et al.
The association between modifiable risk factor combinations and infections in hypertensive patients was not well understood.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess the relationship between lifestyle behaviors, cardiometabolic factors, and infectious disease risk in hypertensive patients, and to evaluate blood biomarkers that mediate the association.
They tested 1,47,188 UK Biobank participants with hypertension using complete data on modifiable risk factors. The Health Score is created using eight modifiable risk factors, including four lifestyle behaviors (diet, physical activity, smoking, and sleep duration) and cardiometabolic factors (BMI, blood lipids, blood sugar, and blood pressure). I did. Health scores and infections were calculated by Cox proportional regression analysis using hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs. Mediation analysis was performed to assess the influence of blood biomarkers on mediation.
Results showed that over a median of 12.5 years, 27,398 cases of infections were identified, including 960 with respiratory infections and 7,940 with gastrointestinal infections. After adjusting for confounders, the hazard ratios for the highest versus lowest quartile of health score were 0.64 (0.62, 0.66) for all infections, 0.72 (0.60, 0.86) for respiratory infections, and 0.72 (0.60, 0.86) for gastrointestinal infections. It was 0.66 (0.62, 0.71). Factors such as duration of hypertension did not change the relationship between health score and infection, and biomarkers such as inflammation and renal function explained 46.60% of the relationship between the combination of lifestyle factors and infection risk and hypertension. did.
They concluded that a healthy lifestyle and cardiometabolic status are important factors in reducing modifiable risk factors associated with this disease and infection.
Source: bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-024-10064-1
