Heart Disease Patients Often Skip
Flu Shots
Reuters Health
March 23, 2005
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Only one in three people
with cardiovascular disease report receiving an influenza vaccination in
the past year, a new study shows. In addition to the higher risk of
flu-related complications among chronically ill individuals, the
investigators note that there is evidence that
influenza may precipitate a heart attack.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of
the Centers for Disease Control recommends
annual influenza vaccination for people with chronic heart disease.
"Special efforts should be made to identify the reasons for such low
coverage and to improve the vaccine coverage among this high-risk
group," Dr. Umed A. Adjani of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta and colleagues write in the February issue of the
American Heart Journal.
They analyzed data on roughly 30,000 people with and
without heart disease from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey,
representing 199 million adults nationwide.
Influenza vaccination coverage was lowest among heart
disease patients younger than 50 years old, the researchers found, with
22 percent reporting immunization in the past 12 months. Older people
with heart disease were more likely to be immunized, with roughly 40
percent of those aged 50 to 64 and 70 percent of those 65 and older
having received a flu shot.
Coverage varied with type of illness, with congestive
heart failure patients the most likely to receive influenza vaccination
(37 percent) and stroke patients the least (31 percent). Women and
non-Hispanic whites were more likely than men and African-Americans and
non-white Hispanics to report having been immunized.
Influenza infection is thought to play a role in the
development of atherosclerosis and the triggering of its complications,
the authors point out in their article. Influenza vaccination is a
"simple, inexpensive, and effective way" of reducing illness and death
among adults with heart disease, they say.
SOURCE: American Heart Journal, February 2005.
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