Influenza vaccine offers protection against heart attack?

Influenza vaccine offers protection against heart attack?

(23.09.2010) Pharmaceutical manufacturers and doctors emphasize that a flu shot would be an advantage to protect against the seasonal flu epidemic. As a British study is just right, allegedly the flu vaccine should also reduce the risk of heart attack. The results of the study have been published in the scientific journal "Canadian Medical Association Journal". The study is based on an evaluation by Prof. Niroshan Siriwardena of the University of Lincoln.

Risk of flu, especially in winter
The summer is over and thus approach the typical autumn diseases. Medical health experts are calling especially so-called vulnerable groups to be vaccinated against the seasonal flu. For the first time it is also called that pregnant women participate in the vaccine. This circumstance is justified by the fact that pregnant women have a weakened immune system. Typical risk groups include the elderly, children, cardiovascular patients and the chronically ill. According to health authorities, the months of September, October and November are the best time to take a flu vaccine. However, the immune system takes about 10 to 14 days to build up effective flu protection.

Study evaluated data from British family doctor patients
As part of an English „Case-control study“ The data were examined and analyzed by about five percent of British GPs. The data came from the archive of the „Kingdom General Practice Research Database“. The researchers found that a flu shot not only protects against severe pneumonia, but can also reduce the risk of heart attack. The scientists were able to observe that those vaccinated after a flu vaccine were less likely to have a heart attack than those who had no flu protection. The heart attack risk decreased by about one fifth.

Heart attack risk higher in winter than in summer
In winter, it is much more likely to have a heart attack than in warmer months in summer. Because in winter, the blood pressure rises due to the colder temperatures. The risk of hypertension is significantly higher in winter. To compensate for the cold, the blood vessels contract. The heart must now pump through the narrower blood vessels against a greater resistance. In addition, researchers at the University of Lincoln suspect that there is a link between influenza vaccination, respiratory infections, and heart attacks. The data was then evaluated in this context.

Patients who received vaccine had a lower risk of heart attack
The researchers evaluated the data from approximately 78,000 patient data from British family doctors from England and Wales. All patients were already over 40 years old. The analysis differentiated between heart attack patients and healthy volunteers. Between 2001 and 2007, 16,012 study participants had already suffered a heart attack. Around 8,000 of them had already been vaccinated against influenza. Based on these data, the scientists calculated the risk of heart attack in vaccinated patients and those who had not received vaccination, taking into account other data. This resulted in the comparison result that the risk of suffering a heart attack decreases with a flu shot by 19 percent. The scientists also argued that early vaccination between the months of September and November can even reduce the risk of heart attack by 21 percent. If people get vaccinated later, ie only in December or January, the reduction is only 12 percent. However, pneumococcal vaccines designed to protect against pneumonia did not have a mitigating effect. This vaccine does not affect the risk of heart attack in humans.

Significance of the study in the review
But how meaningful are such studies? There is a suspicion that such studies should underline the benefits of a flu vaccine, so that more people participate in it. From a technical point of view, the study is accused of inaccuracy. For Prof. Hans-Jürgen Becker of the German Heart Foundation, the significance of this study is less sensational. Becker believes that potentially at-risk heart attack can benefit patients with the flu shot because they are protected from a weakened immune system by the vaccine. The cardiologist considers it unlikely that even in healthy people, this effect occurs.

Critics point out in this context that so-called case-control studies have a high susceptibility to data distortions. It would be better if differentiated between the years. So one could have checked whether the vaccine coincided with the actual viruses of the flu season and when this was not the case. Vaccine critics also complain that in vaccines are still partially contain preservatives. These substances can also contain formaldehyde and mercury. In addition, influenza viruses are sometimes propagated with egg white, which can trigger an allergy in some people. (Sb)

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