Skip Navigation

QJM 2008 101(1):41-47; doi:10.1093/qjmed/hcm119
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Edwards, C.J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Edwards, C.J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Physicians. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

The presence of anticardiolipin antibodies in adults may be influenced by infections in infancy

C.J. Edwards1,2, H. Syddall1, K. Jameson1, E.L. Williams2, R. Polosa3, R. Goswami2, E.M. Dennison1,2, N.K. Arden1,2, C. Cooper1,2 and The Hertfordshire Cohort Study Group

From the 1Medical Research Council Epidemiology Resource Centre, Southampton, 2Department of Rheumatology, Southampton General Hospital, UK and 3Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Specialistica, University of Catania, Via Passo Gravina 187, 95125 Catania, Italy

Address Correspondence to Dr C.J. Edwards, Consultant Rheumatologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer, Department of Rheumatology, Southampton General Hospital, Tremona Road, Southampton, SO16 6YD, UK. email: cedwards{at}soton.ac.uk

Received 23 August 2007 and in revised form 23 October 2007


  Abstract

Objectives: There has been limited success defining environmental factors important in the development of antiphospholipid (Hughes) syndrome (APS). Recent work suggests that the perinatal environment may be important in the development of other autoimmune diseases. We measured anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) in a general population with well-defined early lives to see whether fetal and infant growth and infections were associated with aCL positivity in adult life.

Methods: aCLs were measured using an ELISA in 1384 individuals from the Hertfordshire cohort study. We investigated associations between the presence of aCL and early growth and infectious exposure in infancy in men and women.

Results: ELISA positive aCL (IgM and IgG) was present in 22 (3%) men and 15 (2%) women. Using the highest octile of aCL results, in men higher birth weight (per lb of birth weight: OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.02–1.36, P = 0.02) and diarrhoeal infection in the first year of life (OR 2.55, 95% CI 1.10, 5.92, P = 0.03) were associated with an increased likelihood of being aCL positive. In women, diarrhoeal infection in the first year of life was also associated with an increased likelihood of aCL positivity (OR 2.23, 95% CI 1.01, 4.91, P = 0.05). For IgG titre in men, significant relationships were found with sharing a bedroom (regression coefficient 1.13; 95% CI 1.05, 1.22; P = 0.02) and diarrhoea in the first year (coefficient 1.25; 95% CI 1.00, 1.56; P = 0.05).

Conclusion: A developing immune system when exposed to the infectious environment may influence the likelihood of producing aCL in adult life.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.