In a new study, researchers found Influenza vaccination in patients with high blood pressure is associated with an 18% reduced risk of death during flu season.
They suggest all patients with high blood pressure should have an annual flu vaccination.
The research was conducted by a team from the University of Copenhagen.
According to previous research, the stress flu infection puts on the body may trigger heart attacks and strokes.
Patients with high blood pressure are at raised risk of heart attack and stroke.
By stopping flu infection, vaccination could also protect against cardiovascular events, but until now this had not been examined.
In the study, the team used Danish nationwide healthcare registers to identify 608,452 patients aged 18 to 100 years with high blood pressure during nine consecutive influenza seasons.
The researchers determined how many patients had received a flu vaccine prior to each season.
They then followed patients over each season and tracked how many died. In particular, they recorded death from all causes, death from any cardiovascular cause, and death from a heart attack or stroke.
They found flu vaccination was linked to an 18% relative reduction in the risk of dying from all causes, a 16% relative reduction in the risk of dying from any cardiovascular cause, and a 10% relative reduction in the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke.
The finding shows that influenza vaccination could help improve heart health in patients with high blood pressure.
The team says vaccination is safe, cheap, readily available, and decreases influenza infection.
The study suggests that it could also protect against fatal heart attacks and strokes, and deaths from other causes.
If people have high blood pressure, it would be worth discussing vaccination with their doctors about getting a flu vaccination.
The lead author of the study is Daniel Modin, a research associate.
The study was presented at ESC Congress 2019 together with the World Congress of Cardiology.
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