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Flu shot and reduced heart attack risk

Middle-aged and older adults who get the flu vaccine may be less likely to suffer a first-time heart attack in the following year than those who skip the shot.

Flu shot and reduced heart attack risk

Middle-aged and older adults who get the flu vaccine may be less likely to suffer a first-time heart attack in the following year than those who skip the shot.

As heart attacks increase significantly in winter when pneumonia and flu are prevalent, it has been suggested there may be a link between respiratory infections and heart attacks.

Researchers compared the medical records of 16,000 first-time heart attack patients aged 40 years and older in UK with those of nearly 62,700 people who had no history of heart attack and served as a control group. Each heart attack patient was matched with four control group members who were of the same age and sex, and received care at the same general practice. Of the heart attack patients, 53 percent had received the flu vaccine in the previous year; the same was true of 51 percent of the control group.

When the researchers accounted for a range of other factors in heart attack risk - like high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and family history of heart disease – it was found that flu vaccination was associated with a 19 percent reduction in the odds of suffering a heart attack over the next year, as compared with no vaccination. In addition, earlier vaccination - from September through mid-November - was related to a stronger protective effect than vaccination later in the flu season: a 21 percent reduction in first-time heart attack risk, versus a 12 percent reduction. The researchers, however, did not find any association between pneumococcal vaccination and heart attack risk. Like the flu shot, the pneumococcal vaccine, which protects against pneumonia, meningitis and bacteremia (a blood infection), is recommended for older adults, and those with established heart disease.

The findings do not prove that the flu shot itself can prevent heart attacks. But they add to evidence that flu infection can trigger heart attacks in some people, and that preventing the flu through vaccination might curb that risk. They also support existing recommendations that older adults and people with established heart disease get a flu shot each season. Experts already recommend a yearly flu shot for adults aged 65 years and older, as well as those with heart disease and certain other chronic medical conditions. That is largely because these individuals are at increased risk of hospitalisation and potentially fatal flu complications such as pneumonia.
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One theory on why flu vaccination may be protective is that the inflammatory reaction set off by flu infection, which may include an increase in blood clotting, can lead to heart attacks in vulnerable people.

The current findings suggest that a reduced heart attack risk might be an additional benefit. The results also argue for clinical trials to test whether flu vaccination curbs the risk of heart attack in people who do not have underlying heart disease but do have risk factors for it - like high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

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