Chest infection hospital stays linked to later heart disease
Prior hospitalization for a lower respiratory infection was linked to higher odds of new heart disease over a median 4.5 years (odds ratio 1.42 versus no such hospitalization).
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In an observational study, researchers analyzed 43,184 UK Biobank participants with an average age of 55.2 years; 48% were male. They linked hospital records of lower respiratory tract infections to participants’ first magnetic resonance heart scans, performed between 2014 and 2020. In total, 585 participants had a prior infection-related hospitalization.
Those participants had higher odds of existing heart disease (odds ratio 2.53) and new heart disease over a median 4.5 years (odds ratio 1.42), compared with participants without prior hospitalized infections. The disease measure covered heart attacks, reduced blood supply to the heart, heart failure and atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat. Prior infections were also linked to differences in heart structure and function and more fat around the heart. More infection episodes were associated with higher disease odds and further differences on heart scans.
Why it matters
The study bears on whether past respiratory infections may help identify long-term cardiovascular risk, an important concern for healthy aging.
Caveats
This observational study cannot show that infections caused heart disease or the scan differences. Reported as a conference abstract, it covered UK Biobank participants who underwent heart imaging, not all people with respiratory infections.
The paper
William Harvey Research Institute
ESC Congress 2026 Abstract, Oct 26, 2026
Presented at ESC Congress 2026
