October 28, 2012

Influenza vaccine may reduce risk of heart disease and death





Flu shot may reduce risk of cardiac event by 50 per cent, cardiac deaths by 40 per cent

Toronto - 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.