Influenza vaccine has a protective effect on cardiovascular system

A few days ago, media reported that at the World Congress of Cardiology held in Paris, France, a new nine-year study aimed at more than 600000 people was released. The study found that influenza vaccine can help inhibit heart attack and stroke in patients with hypertension. The study was jointly completed by Professor Daniel Modin of Copenhagen University in Denmark and team members. After considering various confounding factors such as age, medical conditions, drugs and social and economic conditions, the results showed that: cardiovascular patients who received influenza vaccine in influenza season had a 16% lower relative risk of death and heart disease incidence. The relative risk of death was reduced by 10%. The flu season is coming soon. Once the above research is published, many people say it's really good news for heart patients. But in addition to happiness, there are many questions. How can influenza vaccine reduce the risk of heart disease and what is its mechanism? Is this statement reliable?

Researchers also explained the relationship between influenza and cardiovascular, saying that immune response and subsequent inflammation during influenza may change a person's cardiovascular health status. Some studies have shown that atherosclerosis is the main cause of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Although atherosclerosis progresses slowly, it may eventually develop into stable or unstable atherosclerotic plaque. "Heart disease and stroke are caused by the rupture of atherosclerotic plaques in the heart or cerebral arteries. After rupture, blood clots form and cut off the blood supply. " The inflammatory response caused by influenza may be an important pathological mechanism leading to heart attack, Modine said. Inflammation is a defense mechanism that the body opens to resist the invasion of bacteria and viruses. Under normal circumstances, the inflammatory response is only aimed at the foreign invasion pathogens without damaging their own cells and tissues, but the high level of acute inflammation caused by influenza will reduce the stability of the plaque and make it more prone to rupture. There are a lot of studies that confirm that influenza vaccine can prevent the death of heart disease in influenza season. Therefore, influenza vaccine is known as "heart vaccine" by some scholars. " Wang Lizhong, director of the heart rehabilitation center of the rehabilitation hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, said in an interview with science and technology daily. According to Wang Lizhong, the reason is that during the flu season, the virus will attack heart disease patients. Every year's flu season is often the peak of cardiac death and hospitalization. According to statistics, four out of 10 flu inpatients have heart disease. Why are heart attack patients more resistant to influenza virus? First of all, influenza virus will cause inflammation in the body, and inflammation in the cardiovascular system will worsen heart disease; moreover, inflammation in the lung will cause tissue swelling, which will reduce the level of oxygen in the body and increase the pressure on the heart. If it affects the heart muscle, it will trigger or aggravate the heart failure.

Secondly, heart patients often need to be hospitalized after suffering from influenza. Because patients with chronic diseases such as heart disease are generally old and weak, fighting against influenza virus will weaken their physical reserves, leading to the body unable to cope with the disease. Since it is impossible to completely avoid the invasion of influenza virus, the best choice is to protect yourself with influenza vaccine. 

In a word, influenza vaccination can reduce the risk of influenza complications in patients with cardiovascular diseases, and reduce hospitalization rate and mortality. " Wang Lizhong said that there are two kinds of protection for the cardiovascular protection of influenza vaccine: direct action, the antibodies produced in the body after inoculation of influenza vaccine can directly affect oxidized low density lipoprotein, prevent foam cells and reduce plaque formation, reduce the risk of ischemic heart disease and stroke, and indirectly reduce the incidence of pneumonia, thereby reducing ischemic heart disease and stroke. And then reduce the incidence. The benefits of vaccination may be far greater than expected, although the benefits of vaccination may be far greater than expected, according to the research team of Modine, the coverage rate of vaccine varies from 26% to 36% in nine flu seasons, which means that many hypertensive patients have not been vaccinated with influenza vaccine. Therefore, the researchers suggest that "all patients with high blood pressure should be vaccinated against influenza." To this end, Wang Lizhong said that at present, countries have not written this recommendation into the health management guidelines for hypertension, but have recognized the importance of influenza vaccine for patients with cardiovascular disease. In the guidelines for secondary prevention of coronary heart disease issued by the American Heart Association and the American Heart Association (AHA), not only the recommendation of inactivated influenza vaccine has been added, but also a scientific proposal has been published, that is, "influenza vaccine as secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease". The European Heart Association has similar recommendations for patients with coronary heart disease in Europe. Countries are as enthusiastic about recommending flu vaccines as they are about controlling cholesterol, blood pressure and other risk factors. In fact, not only the above diseases, Wang Lizhong introduced that in addition to the prevention of influenza, in the flu season, influenza vaccine can also be used for patients with coronary atherosclerotic heart disease, vaccinating influenza vaccine.