Flu Vaccine and Heart Attack

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Pneumonia vaccine slashes risk of heart attack: Researchers

Pauline Tam , Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, October 06, 2008

OTTAWA - A vaccine that helps protect against pneumonia can also cut the risk of heart attacks, opening the door to a safe and inexpensive way to prevent thousands of cardiac deaths each year, new research shows.
The vaccine, typically used to protect the elderly against the most common cause of bacterial pneumonia, can lower the rate of heart attacks by as much as 50 per cent, says the study, published in the latest issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

"The magnitude of the effect was really surprising for us," said Dr. Danielle Pilon, the study's lead author and an associate professor of medicine at the Universite de Sherbrooke in Quebec. "We didn't expect the vaccine to lower the risk of heart attacks by such a high rate."

In Ontario, the pneumonia vaccine is recommended for people with weak immune systems, cirrhosis of the liver and high-risk conditions such as chronic heart, kidney or lung disease. It is also commonly given to the elderly.

An accompanying editorial urges physicians to use the vaccine more widely as a preventive measure for patients at high risk of developing heart disease.
Previous studies have shown that flu can trigger heart disease, leading to a spike in heart attacks during flu season. The most common and serious complication of the flu is pneumonia, an infection that sneaks into the lungs after influenza weakens the immune system.

The latest evidence suggests the vaccine not only prevents pneumonia, it also has anti-inflammatory properties that stop the buildup of plaque in blood vessels, leading to atherosclerosis, a disease that makes people susceptible to heart attacks.

"Our research adds to the theory that infection may be related to heart attacks," said Pilon. Her research team studied the medical records of 5,000 Quebec hospital patients, all of whom had at least one risk factor for heart disease: high cholesterol, high blood-pressure or diabetes.

The researchers found that compared to patients who didn't have heart attacks, those who did were much less likely to have received a pneumonia vaccine at least two years before they were hospitalized.
The pattern was similar for men older than 45 and women older than 50.

In Ontario, the pneumonia vaccine is recommended for people with weak immune systems, cirrhosis of the liver and high-risk conditions such as chronic heart, kidney or lung disease. It is also commonly given to the elderly.

Unlike the flu vaccine, which needs to be given every year, the average person only needs to be vaccinated against pneumonia once.

© Ottawa Citizen 2008