Flu vaccine ‘can help to prevent heart problems’

Flu vaccinations have been shown to provide additional benefits to patients who have a history of cardiac problems in new research from North America.

Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study reviewed six clinical trials on heart health in people who received the flu vaccine, with the research including more than 6,700 patients with a history of heart disease.

It was found that those given a flu jab were 36 per cent less likely to suffer a major cardiac event – such as a heart attack, stroke, heart failure or death from cardiac-related causes one year later, rising to 55 per cent if they had already had a heart attack in the recent past.

These benefits were shown to be more pronounced when patients received a more potent vaccine, compared with the standard seasonal vaccine.

Dr Jacob Udell, a cardiologist at Women's College Hospital and clinician-scientist at the University of Toronto, said: "These findings are extraordinary given the potential for this vaccine to serve as yearly preventative therapy for patients with heart disease."

Flu vaccinations in the UK are particularly targeted at vulnerable groups including those with long-term heart complaints, as well as older people, children and pregnant women.