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It's not clear how flu shots might protect the heart. One leading theory is that flu inflections launch an inflammatory response throughout the body.
That inflammation may dislodge plaque that has built up in the walls of arteries as a normal function of aging - plaque deposits that have otherwise been stable for decades but that suddenly burst, squeezing off blood supply to the heart.
Recent studies have shown that people have a higher risk of heart attack, congestive heart failure or stroke in the first days or week after coming down with flu.
As always each story has two sides. Pro and anti vaccination. Soon we will publish an article outlining the other point of view. Meanwhile feel free to tell us your comments on the flu shots
This time of year, people are rolling up their sleeves to get flu shots and avoid seasonal sniffles. And new research suggests the flu vaccine may also help prevent strokes and heart attacks.
The research was presented at the 2012 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Toronto.
Dr. Jacob Udell, a cardiologist at Women’s College Hospital, and the researchers pored over published clinical trials on the flu dating back to the 1960s. But only four studies, done between 1994 and 2008, met their scientific criteria.
Those four studies included 3,227 participants, half of whom suffered from heart disease. Half of all the participants received a flu shot and the remainder were given a placebo vaccine.
A year later, the group who had received the vaccine experienced 50% fewer major cardiac events — heart attack, stroke or cardiac death — compared with those who’d received a placebo. There was also a 40 per cent reduction in death from any cause among those who had received the flu vaccine.
The statistics are “pretty profound,” said Udell, also a scientist at the University of Toronto.
While the figures are encouraging, a multinational controlled study is needed to truly determine the vaccine’s effect on reducing fatal cardiac events, said Udell. “It would be revolutionary if this was actually true, but I have to wonder.”
Still, the findings may prompt more people to get the flu shot, said Udell, noting less than 50 per cent of Canadians get the vaccine.
“There’s no reason to suggest there’s any harm from the flu vaccine, and this sounds like a pretty robust improvement in heart risk,” Udell said.
“I’m getting my flu vaccine as a result of this,” he said. “But I was getting it anyways because I’m a care provider.”
