Flu Shot Fights Heart Failure

Flu Shot Alert:  Flu could certainly ruin the holiday spirit.  Florida Lung, Asthma and Sleep Specialists remind you:  In the rush for decorating your home, organizing special cooking and buying holiday gifts, don’t leave the flu shots off your holiday list.  First, you know we are going to tell you that it’s not too late to vaccinate!  If you have not had a flu shot yet, you know it’s time to protect yourself and your family from the flu.  Keep reading to see the new way it could be especially good for you–and your heart!

New Research:  Flu Shots Help if You Have Heart Failure

Recent research has associated survival benefits with the flu shot in cases of Heart Failure.  FLASS thinks this is pretty amazing.  Everybody loves a good survival benefit, especially heart patients.  Let’s take a look at recent research. It is documented in the recent Journal Watch article from Circulation.

Researchers studied 135,000 patients who had been diagnosed with heart failure between 2003 and 2015. They compared the patient’s annual flu vaccination rates over the same period.  “Annual flu vaccination rates over the study period ranged from 16% to 54%.  During roughly 3.5 years’ follow-up, 58% of the cohort died. One-third of all deaths were due to cardiovascular causes.”

Conclusions From Study

• To put it simply, patients who received at least 1 flu shot during the study were 18 percent less likely to die than those who had no flu shots.
• Even better news for the people who had gotten several vaccinations over the 3 and a half year study.  “Benefits increased with the number of vaccinations.”
• The research scientists also discovered that getting vaccinated early in the year, September or October, gave more protection than November or December.  (Since it is December, we cannot do anything about this finding now.  But you get can still get major benefits from taking the shot now.  And just remember next year.  The earlier flu shot gives better cardiac protection than the later ones.)
• The research scientists conclude, “Influenza vaccination should be considered as a potential treatment strategy comparable to other medical treatments such as beta-blockers and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, to improve survival in heart failure.” This is a powerful statement.

Again, to put it simply, the very same vaccine that helps you fight the flu, also helps you survive heart failure.  And that is big news.  We want you to take it personally, to heart.

Some Flu Backstory You Should Know

Did you know the U.S. government stated that 80,000 Americans “died of flu and its complications last winter.”  ..That is the disease’s highest death toll in at least four decades?”

Now you know.  Please make time to get your flu shot.  If you already have your shot, make sure family and friends have also taken it.   Flu experts agree last year was a very bad season. Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University vaccine expert said, “That’s Huge.  The tally was almost twice as much as health officials previously considered a bad year, he said.  In marked comparison, Flu-related deaths have ranged from about 12,000 to 56,000, in the worst of recent years according to the CDC.”

Florida Flu Alert:  Let’s Get Local

You might not realize it but the number of flu cases in Central Florida has doubled in recent weeks. Florida Hospital Centra Care medical director Tim Hendrix said doctors reported 52 flu cases last week, up from 26.  “It’s not a lot when you compare it to the thousand, 1,500 patients, we saw at peak season last year.”  But, he added, “it is a good indicator that the flu is out there and we are getting into that season.”

Some of you might remember that The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “reported 180 pediatric deaths caused by influenza for the 2017-2018 flu season.”  It is significant to realize that 80 percent of those children were not immunized.

Today’s Flu Numbers

Here in week 48, influenza and ILI activity decreased slightly statewide.  Doctors expect that influenza and ILI activity will increase over the coming weeks.  Data can be deceiving.  At present, “A total of 29 influenzas or ILI outbreaks have been reported so far this season in Florida.”

Sadly, we know of two children who have died of influenza this year.  And both deaths occurred in unvaccinated children. The CDC stated, “People who have not yet been vaccinated for the 2018-19 season should do so as soon as possible. Influenza vaccines are safe and are the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones from influenza and its potentially severe complications.”

Let’s Review Advantages and Benefits of the Flu Vaccination

Directly from the CDC, the Doctors and staff of FLASS hereby present you with a list of life-saving and life-enhancing facts about the Flu Shots.

• They often prevent you from getting sick with flu
• They reduce your risk of flu-associated hospitalization
• The flu shot can save the lives of children.
• The vaccinations actually help protect women during and after pregnancy.  Later the shot can “offer protection from flu to the baby for several months after birth.”

And now, as we related in the today’s big news story at the beginning of this article, the flu shot can actually protect you in the event of heart failure—a big benefit, to be sure!

Don’t Let the Flu give you Holiday Blues:  Get a Shot!

We must add that there are additional precautions you can take to stop the threatening spread of the flu and other respiratory diseases.  Besides getting your vaccination, be sure you follow these recommendations.

1. The “Florida Department of Health recommends you “Wash your hands often with soap and water.  (if soap is not available, use an alcohol-based sanitizer.)
   2. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
   3. If you do get sick, stay home until fever-free for at least 24 hours.  This means fever-free without the use of fever-reducing medication.

We would be remiss if we at FLASS did not wish you and yours, a happy, healthy holiday season.  With plans in full swing, we don’t want anyone to get sick and miss all the friends and family get-togethers that make this special season sweet.