- Good Sleep Can Make You Feel Young
- U.S. Mpox Cases Rising Again as Vaccinations Lag
- Binge Drinking Boosts Heart Risks, Especially for Women
- Too Often, Nearby Defibrillators Go Unused on People in Cardiac Arrest
- Stressed? Some Genes Could Raise Your Heart Attack Risk
- Puerto Rico Declares Dengue Epidemic as Cases Climb
- Hormonal Meds for Birth Control, Menopause Linked to Brain Tumors
- These 3 Factors Make Your Brain More Vulnerable to Dementia
- High Rate of Suicidal Thoughts Among Black Men in Rural America: Study
- Just 30 Minutes Less Sitting Time Per Day Cuts Seniors’ High Blood Pressure
Got High Blood Pressure? Get Your Flu Shot
If you have high blood pressure, getting a flu shot could save your life, researchers say.
A new study found that patients with high blood pressure who got a flu shot had a nearly 18% lower risk of dying during flu season.
Previous research has found that the stress flu puts on the body may trigger heart attacks and strokes. Patients with high blood pressure already are at increased risk for both.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from Denmark on more than 608,000 people, aged 18 to 100, with high blood pressure during nine flu seasons, from 2007 to 2016.
The investigators looked at how many patients got a flu shot before each flu season and how many died.
After adjusting for patient characteristics — such as age, health problems and medications — in a given flu season, flu vaccination was associated with an 18% lower risk of death from any cause; a 16% lower risk of death from any cardiovascular cause; and a 10% lower risk of death from heart attack or stroke.
The findings were to be presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), in Paris. Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
“Given these results, it is my belief that all patients with high blood pressure should have an annual flu vaccination,” said first author Daniel Modin, a research associate at the University of Copenhagen. “Vaccination is safe, cheap, readily available and decreases influenza infection. On top of that, our study suggests that it could also protect against fatal heart attacks and strokes, and deaths from other causes.”
Modin noted that during the nine flu seasons studied, vaccine coverage ranged from 26% to 36%, meaning that many patients with high blood pressure were unprotected.
“If you have high blood pressure, it would be worth discussing vaccination with your doctor,” Modin said in an ESC news release.
More information
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has more on flu vaccination.
Source: HealthDay
Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.