Although there are several case reports showing that carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning causes ischemic heart disease (IHD), no large-scale epidemiological studies have shown a significant association between the two. To investigate the association between CO poisoning and IHD, a nested case-control study of 28,113 patients who experienced CO poisoning and 28,113 controls matched by sex and age was performed using the nationwide health database of South Korea. Based on a conditional logistic regression, there was a significantly higher risk of IHD among the CO poisoning group than among the control group (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 2.16; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.87-2.49). The risk of IHD after CO poisoning was higher among the younger age group under 40 years (adjusted HR, 4.85; 95% CI, 3.20-7.35), and it was much greater among those with comorbidities (adjusted HR, 10.69; 95% CI, 2.41-47.51). The risk of IHD was the highest within the first two years after CO poisoning (adjusted HR, 11.12; 95% CI, 4.54-27.22). Even if more than six years had passed, the risk was still significantly higher than among the control group (adjusted HR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.27-1.89). The analyses imply that CO poisoning is associated with an increased risk of IHD.
Keywords: CO intoxication; CO poisoning; big data; carbon monoxide; cardiac dysfunction; coronary heart disease; ischemic heart disease; nationwide health database; toxic effect.