In the medical field, antibiotics may be one of the greatest inventions known to mankind.
Antibiotics, known as antibacterial, are medical antidotes that eliminate the growth of infectious bacterial diseases.
Common infections that the antibiotics are used for include the common cold, flu, viral infections, and fungal infection, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Antibiotics Study
However, a new study has emerged cautioning women to think twice before relying on antibiotics as their first-choice medical treatment.
A study from the European Society of Cardiology suggests that women who ingest antibiotics long term are more susceptible to the risk of strokes and heart attacks.
The study indicates that women over the age of 60 who require antibiotics for two months or longer raises their risk of developing cardiovascular diseases by 32% than women who do not use antibiotics.
In the study group of 1000 women in their 60s or older showed that six per 1000 women would develop cardiovascular diseases when taken antibiotics for two months versus three per 1000 women who did not take antibiotics.
Similarly, middle-aged women between the ages of 40 to 59 had an increased 28% chance of developing cardiovascular disease after a two-month reliance on antibiotics.
There are some limitations to this study, for example, as an observational study, the results only provide a consensus of what has been observed among the sample study.
It should not be used, as a correlative study to make an inference those antibiotics are direct causes of heart diseases and strokes.
It is only suggested that there are some properties in antibacterial that raise the risk of cardiovascular disease without factoring other external environments.
Chronic respiratory, unitary tract and periodontics infections are common causes of long-term antibiotics usage among middle and later-aged women.
While the study does not factor in lifestyle and other underlining health circumstances that may increase the risk of these diseases and the overarching dependence on antibiotics; however, it should be noted that certain external environments facilitate the greater need for antibiotics.
For example, common respiratory disorders that require frequent anti-biotic treatments include chronic bronchitis and asthma exacerbations.
These respiratory disorders cause persistent coughing and laborious breathing, which are hard to treat and will likely require medical antidotes to treat.
The World Health Organization reports that respiratory diseases and lung cancer are most commonly linked to smoke inhalation, which raises the risk of developing asthma-related infections and chronic bronchitis.
Secondhand smoke, for instance, is a major cause of asthma development and severe asthma attacks among children.
Furthermore, people who are susceptible to chronic bronchitis can worsen their respiratory conditions when exposed to heavy smoke fumes.
Therefore, people who are susceptible to respiratory disorders that live in heavily polluted areas or engage in smoking activities are more likely to require antibiotics than those who do not live in smoke-inhabited environments.
Other lifestyle trajectories that facilitate a greater need for long-term antibiotic usage is unprotected sexual encounters that raise the risk of sexually transmitted disease.
Antibiotics are typically used to treat common sexually transmitted diseases, such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, bacterial vaginosis, syphilis, and trichomoniasis.
While some of these sexually transmitted diseases can be cured with a single dose or short-term usage of antibiotics, some infections like trichomoniasis are prone to reoccur and require further use of antibiotics.
Moreover, other diseases, like syphilis require long-term treatments of antibiotics if treatment is not sought immediately.
Though the study does not encompass sample groups on the younger age group, who is more likely to be linked to cases of sexually transmitted diseases, however, it should be noted that long-term usage of antibiotics occurs with lifestyle choices.
Those who engage in unprotected sexual activities have a higher chance of contracting diseases that require frequent instances of long-term antibiotic usages throughout their lifetime.
Antibiotics Destroy Good Bacteria
Moreover, as antibiotics are used for eliminating bacteria from the body, the study indicates that long-term use of antibiotics also kills off the good bacteria in our body.
For instance, antibiotics are known to destroy gut bacteria.
Having an array of good bacteria microbiome lining your gut is especially important for your overall body health as your gut health is linked to combatting obesity, improve your immune system, digestion, and protect your central nervous system.
Therefore, having a healthy gut bacterial microbiome is important for your overall health.
However, antibiotics eliminate bacteria such as bifidobacteria and bacteria producing fatty acid that is needed to prevent diseases.
Therefore, the study suggests that antibiotics may be the culprit in the increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Body Defenses Lowered
The study, instead, suggests that antibiotics are counterintuitive as by eliminating bacteria, including the good bacteria that the body needs to fight off other diseases, the use of antibiotics lowers the body’s defense to ward off other harmful viruses and microorganisms that may invade the gut.
Poor gut health, as a result, can be a heavy burden on your cardiovascular function and forces the heart to work harder than it needs.
While studies are not entirely sure of which bacterias are eliminated with the use of antibiotics, the lack of good bacteria may allow the bad bacteria to decrease good fatty deposits in the bloodstream.
For example, when the gut produces bacteria that break down a fat deposit, called lecithin, found in meat, egg, and dairy products, it creates a bi-product called TMAO.
When TMAO cumulates in the arteries, it causes a greater risk for cardiovascular diseases to develop.
Thus, if antibiotic wipes out the good bacteria that fight lecithin-killing bacteria, then the gut produces more TMAO over time.
The scope of the study is longitudinal and looks at the trajectory of women who take antibiotics over some time.
Therefore, the study is limited to the results given by its subject sample that are middle-aged and elderly women.
The study does not support the findings for young women or men. However, its message of the study suggests that heavy reliance on antibiotics is unsustainable and causes negative effects for the body.
Therefore, men and women should all take precautions in over-reliance on antibiotics, especially as a frequent medical treatment, as there are many adverse effects with cumulative use.
Antibiotics should only be used when necessary. Instead, more consideration should be given to the lifestyle or activities that people engage in that raises the likelihood of contracting bacterial diseases and needing antibiotics in the first place.
Sources:
https://sph.tulane.edu/news/antibiotic-use-linked-greater-risk-heart-attack-and-stroke
https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20190425/long-antibiotic-use-may-raise-womens-heart-risks#1
