Influenza vaccine may reduce risk of heart disease and death

[tetano]

Flu shot may reduce risk of a major cardiac event by 50 percent and cardiac deaths by 40 percent

Getting a flu shot may not only protect you from getting sick, it might also prevent heart disease.

Two Toronto-based researchers presented studies at the 2012 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress which found that the influenza vaccine could be an important treatment for maintaining heart health and warding off cardiovascular events like strokes and heart attacks.

Dr. Jacob Udell, a cardiologist at Women's College Hospital and the University of Toronto, and his team from the TIMI Study Group and Network for Innovation in Clinical Research looked at published clinical trials on this subject, dating back to the 1960s.

"For those who had the flu shot, there was a pretty strong risk reduction," says Dr. Udell.

The flu vaccine provided an approximate 50 per cent reduction in the risk of a major cardiac event (heart attack, stroke, or cardiac death) compared with placebo after one year of follow-up. A similar trend was seen for the flu vaccine reducing death from any cause (approximately 40 per cent).

The influenza vaccine reduced cardiovascular events and cardiovascular death in people with or without heart disease.

...

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/hasf-ivm102212.php

 

[gsgs]

Re: Influenza vaccine may reduce risk of heart disease and death

40% is amazing.
Given that we didn't observe any such reduction so far.
I remember one study some years ago that found no
reduction at all.
And then we had discussion that some studies that found a correlation
were biased (vaccine manufacturer sponsored)

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Original Investigation | February 14, 2005
Impact of Influenza Vaccination on Seasonal Mortality in the US Elderly Population FREE
Lone Simonsen, PhD; Thomas A. Reichert, MD, PhD; Cecile Viboud, PhD;
William C. Blackwelder, PhD; Robert J. Taylor, PhD; Mark A. Miller, MD

http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=486407

The findings
After adjusting for an aging population and whether the seasons were influenza A (H3N2),
the investigators found no evidence to suggest that there has been a reduction in either
excess P&I or all cause mortality during the 3 decades of study.

Conclusions We attribute the decline in influenza-related mortality among people
aged 65 to 74 years in the decade after the 1968 pandemic to the acquisition of
immunity to the emerging A(H3N2) virus. We could not correlate increasing vaccination
coverage after 1980 with declining mortality rates in any age group. Because fewer
than 10% of all winter deaths were attributable to influenza in any season, we conclude
that observational studies substantially overestimate vaccination benefit.

 

[gsgs]

Re: Influenza vaccine may reduce risk of heart disease and death

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/11/does-the-vaccine-matter/307723/

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/170/5/650.full.pdf

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see e.g. this:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/11/does-the-vaccine-matter/307723/

http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/35/2/337.abstract

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/170/5/650.full.pdf


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?linkname=pubmed_pubmed_citedin&from_uid=19625341

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3292388/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21818350


Simonsen L, Taylor RJ, Viboud C, et al. Mortality benefits of influenza
vaccination in elderly people: an ongoing controversy. Lancet Infect Dis. 2007;7:658-666.
Jefferson T, Di Pietranonj C. Inactivated influenza vaccines in the elderly —
are you sure? Lancet Infect Dis. 2007;370:1199-1200.
Nichol KL, Nordin JD, Nelson DB, et al. Effectiveness of influenza vaccine in the
community-dwelling eldery. N Engl J Med. 2007;357:1373-1381.
Treanor JD. Influenza — the goal of control. N Engl J Med. 2007;357:1439-1441.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/a...may-not-protect-the-elderly-or-the-very-young

 

[tetano]

Re: Influenza vaccine may reduce risk of heart disease and death

Lancet Infect Dis. 2009 Oct;9(10):601-10.
Influenza as a trigger for acute myocardial infarction or death from cardiovascular disease: a systematic review.
Warren-Gash C, Smeeth L, Hayward AC.
Source

UCL Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Royal Free Hospital, London, UK. c.warren-gash@pcps.ucl.ac.uk
Abstract

Cardiac complications of influenza infection, such as myocarditis, are well recognised, but the role of influenza as a trigger of acute myocardial infarction is less clear. We did a systematic review of the evidence that influenza (including influenza-like illness and acute respiratory infection) triggers acute myocardial infarction or cardiovascular death. We examined the effectiveness of influenza vaccines at protecting against cardiac events and did a meta-analysis of data from randomised controlled trials. 42 publications describing 39 studies were identified. Many observational studies in different settings with a range of methods reported consistent associations between influenza and acute myocardial infarction. There was weaker evidence of an association with cardiovascular death. Two small randomised trials assessed the protection provided by influenza vaccine against cardiac events in people with existing cardiovascular disease. Whereas one trial found that influenza vaccination gave significant protection against cardiovascular death, the other trial was inconclusive. A pooled estimate from a random-effects model suggests a protective, though non-significant, effect (relative risk 0.51, 95% CI 0.15-1.76). We believe influenza vaccination should be encouraged wherever indicated, especially in people with existing cardiovascular disease, among whom there is often suboptimum vaccine uptake. Further evidence is needed on the effectiveness of influenza vaccines to reduce the risk of cardiac events in people without established vascular disease.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19778762

 

[gsgs]

Re: Influenza vaccine may reduce risk of heart disease and death

http://www.scientificamerican.com/a...-protect-the-elderly-or-the-very-young&page=2


> influenza only causes about 5 percent of all excess winter deaths among the elderly

that is somehow hard to believe for me, but I didn't check the study yet.
At this moment, however, I'd bet that flu is responsible for more than 20%
of winter excess deaths in USA

> ?Naturally, you would not expect the vaccine to work before the thing it protects
> against is going around,?

you have to wonder. Those elderly are not dying from flu but mainly from cardiovascular
causes. The reason for this is unclear. But obviously an infection is not good for
the (cardio) survival chances. Flu or otherwise.The vaccine may have some unknown
interaction with non-flu immunity, colds or bacteria.

 

[gsgs]

Re: Influenza vaccine may reduce risk of heart disease and death

http://www.onlinecjc.ca/article/S0828-282X(12)00543-0/fulltext

skeptic:
http://www.theheart.org/article/1464715.do?iframe=true&width=90%&height=90%

Dr Jacob Udell (University of Toronto, ON) admitted, "The skeptics . . . are right.
There are no pills out there that reduce your risk by 50%. It is a profound finding,
and if that's actually the case, this stuff should be in the water!"
...
This meta-analysis cannot prove how the influenza vaccine may be cardioprotective, Udell admitted,


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21621577