7/31/2019 Week 45 Health

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HealthDay ReporterGetting a flu shot may help people

stay healthy in more than the obviousway, new research suggests.

"The shot doesn't just protect youagainst flu, it protects you from heartattacks," said Dr. Jacob Udell, a cardi-ologist at Women's College Hospitaland the University of Toronto.

In his research, Udell found thatthose who got a flu shot reduced theirrisk of heart attacks and other seriouscardiovascular problems by nearlyhalf during a one-year follow-up pe-riod.

He was scheduled to present hisfindings Sunday at the 2012 Cana-dian Cardiovascular Congress inToronto.

Udell and his team re-evaluatedthe results of four randomized trialsthat looked at how the influenza vac-cine might help heart health. In all,the studies had more than 3,200 pa-tients. The original studies were done

from 1994 to 2008.

Some of the people in the trialswere free of heart disease, while oth-ers either had stable cardiovasculardisease or had recently had heart at-tacks or other coronary problems.

All groups were followed for me-dian of a year. Those who got the fluvaccine had about a 50 percent reduc-

tion in heart attack, stroke or othermajor cardiovascular events.

During the follow-up, nearly 200major cardiovascular events were re-ported, including 65 deaths related tocardiovascular issues.

The research was not funded byvaccine developers.

Udell said experts don't know forsure why the flu vaccine may beheart-protective, but offered two pos-sible explanations.

First, he said, the vaccine may pro-tect vulnerable patients already inpoor health from one more illness thatcould "dip them over the edge." Sec-ond, the protection may come fromavoiding the inflammation associated

with getting the flu, he said. Inflam-

mation has long been linked to cardio-vascular problems.

Whichever way it might work, hesaid, "it certainly lends support to alot of clinical guidelines that recom-

mend the flu vaccine to patients eitherwith heart disease or after a heart at-tack."

In another study presented at themeeting, researchers evaluated nearly230 patients with irregular heart-beats who had been given implantablecardiac defibrillators. These devicesgive the body a shock or jolt to restorenormal rhythms when needed.

During flu season, those who haveimplantable cardiac defibrillatorsoften report they get more shocks (andneed medical attention) than othertimes of the year.

Cardiologists from SunnybrookHealth Sciences Centre in Torontofound that about 11 percent of those

who got the flu vaccine got at least one

shock from their defibrillator duringflu season, but nearly 14 percent ofthose who did not receive the vaccinegot a shock from their defibrillator.

The protective effect of the flu vac-cine is not surprising to Dr. LenHorovitz, an attending physician atLenox Hill Hospital in New York City

and an internal medicine and lungspecialist.

"Influenza is a big strain on thesystem," he said. That is especiallytrue if someone has underlying dis-ease, such as heart problems, dia-betes, kidney disease or asthma.

"Even a healthy person doesn't tol-erate the flu that well," he said.

The new report about flu vaccineprotecting the heart, Horovitz said, is"all the more reason to push for vac-cination, as we always do."

This year, he said, he has noticedless pushback when he reminds pa-tients to get their annual flu shot.Some of his patients are asking for theshot earlier this year.

Less than 30 percent of U.S. adultsaged 18 to 49 got vaccinated last fluseason, according to the U.S. Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention.

More informationTo learn more about flu vaccina-

tion, visit the U.S. Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention.

SOURCES: Len Horovitz, M.D., in-ternal medicine and pulmonary spe-cialist and attending physician, LenoxHill Hospital, New York City; JacobUdell, M.D., cardiologist, Women'sCollege Hospital and the University ofToronto; Oct. 28, 2012, presentations,2012 Canadian Cardiovascular Con-gress, Toronto

Copyright 2012 HealthDay. Allrights reserved.

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