Flu jab cuts risk of death after heart attack, study finds

HEART attack patients should be given the flu jab as part of routine treatment, a study suggests, after it found the vaccine could cut patients’ risk of death by two fifths.

The trial analysed the health outcomes of more than 2,500 patients who were hospitalised for a heart attack or high-risk heart disease.

Thirty hospitals in eight countries, including Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Latvia, the UK, Czech Republic, Bangladesh and Australia, were included in the study, which was conducted over four flu seasons from October 2016 to February 2020.

Researchers gave half the patients a flu jab and the other half placebo 72 hours after an invasive heart procedure or hospitalisation for heart attack.

After one year the researchers reviewed the patients’ health and found those who had the flu vaccine were 41 per cent less likely to die from all causes compared to those who had the placebo.

Death from all causes occurred in 37 of the hospitalised patients in the vaccine group, but 61 in the placebo group, the research, presented at the European Society of Cardiology conference, found.

Adverse effects from the flu vaccination were rare and similar among both groups, the researchers said.

Previous studies have found more people die from heart events, such as a heart attack, during flu epidemics than during non-epidemic periods, which suggests the respiratory virus can worsen such conditions.

The flu vaccine is recommended for patients with heart disease, but is not part of standard treatment following a heart attack, the researchers said.

Professor Ole Fröbert of Örebro University, Sweden, said: “Our findings suggest that influenza vaccination should be considered as part of in-hospital treatment after [a heart attack].”

The average age of patients in the trial was 60 and more than 80 per cent were men.