the association between chlamydia pneumoniae infection and ischemic stroke

Chlamydia pneumoniae has been linked with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases; however, data on stroke and cerebrovascular accidents are sparse. the aim of this study was to determine the association between c. pneumoniae infection and ischemic stroke. in a case-control study, 141 patients, admitted with ischemic stroke, were compared with gender and age-matched control subjects (n = 141). using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit, the presence of c. pneumoniae igg and iga in the patients’ sera was determined. the data were analyzed by spss software (version 15) and were compared between the two groups using t-test and chi square test. the mean ages of the case and control groups were 68.97 ± 12.29 and 66.95 ± 6.68 years old, respectively. the difference between these two groups was not statistically significant (p = 0.102). the seroprevalence of c. pneumoniae-specific igg were 78.7% in the patients with stroke and 52.5% in the control group. the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p = 0.0001). the seroprevalence of c. pneumoniae-specific iga were 41.1% in the stroke and 15.6% in the control group. the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p = 0.0001). the results supported the hypothesis that serological evidence of c. pneumoniae infection may be associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke and cerebrovascular accident.