The best heart doctors in Hudson County know that no one wants to get the flu. For most of us, getting a yearly flu shot is a good idea. It's a safe, low-cost way to reduce your chances of getting the flu. If you're one of the 5.7 million Americans who have been diagnosed with heart failure, however, getting that flu shot may also reduce your risk of an early death.
The American Heart Association's published the research in their journal Circulation. They analyzed the health data of 134,048 patients with newly diagnosed heart failure over a 12-year period. What the researchers found was:
- Even after accounting for other factors, flu shots were associated with an 18% reduced risk of early death in heart failure patients.
- Participants who got flu shots annually after their heart failure diagnosis saw a 19% reduction in death from heart disease and all causes.
Why is getting a flu shot so important for heart failure patients?
For many people in good health, getting a flu shot is simply a practical choice. Who, after all, wants to spend 1-2 weeks sneezing, coughing, and aching if they can avoid it? Flu is a nasty little disease.
But for people who have heart failure, influenza can be much more serious - and even fatal. Patients with heart failure are often older than 65, and have circulation and immune system problems. This means that infections along with the flu can make their heart symptoms worse.
So, if you have heart failure, the heart doctors in Hudson County urge you get your annual flu shot. You might want to get it early in "flu season" (September and October versus November and December) if you can. The Circulation study found that "timing matters." Heart failure patients who were got shots early had an even greater reduction deaths.
