| Visitors Now: | |
| Total Visits: | |
| Total Stories: |
| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
More Propaganda:Flu shot may prevent heart attack: study
Mon Sep 20, 10:45 PM
By Sheryl Ubelacker, Health Reporter, The Canadian Press TORONTO – Getting a seasonal flu shot may not only prevent influenza — it may also stop some people from having a heart attack, new research suggests.
In a study of almost 79,000 patients at 379 family practices in England and Wales, researchers found annual flu vaccinations were associated with a significant drop in the rate of a first heart attack.
"Flu vaccination is obviously given to prevent flu and complications of flu where you may need hospitalization," said lead author Dr. Niroshan Siriwardena, a family practitioner and a researcher at the University of Lincoln.
"But now the finding suggests there's an additional benefit in terms of reduction of heart attack," he said Monday from Lincoln, England.
The 2001-2007 study found that influenza vaccination within the previous year was associated with a 19 per cent reduction in heart attacks, while a flu shot in the current season was linked to a 20 per cent drop.
To conduct the study, researchers looked at almost 79,000 patients aged 40 years or older, of whom 16,012 had had a heart attack, and almost 63,000 were controls who had not.
Researchers also found that getting that shot in the arm earlier rather than later in the fall appeared to boost protection for the heart.
Inoculation between September and mid-November was associated with a 21 per cent reduction in the heart attack rate, compared to a 12 per cent drop with later vaccination, concluded the study published in this week's issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
"We were intrigued by that, we've only seen that shown in one other study," said Siriwardena, who speculated that getting vaccinated late in the year may mean missing the benefits of a flu shot if cases start to show up in early fall.
