http://healthcare.dmagazine.com/2012/10/30/flu-shot-may-help-curb-heart-disease/
Most years, there are over 100 million doses of influenza vaccine available to protect Americans, however, on average about 30 percent of the adult population in the United States receives an annual flu shot. Now, medical researchers are giving people more reason to consider protecting themselves against influenza. They believe the flu shot can curb heart disease.
Every year in the fall and winter, up to 20% of people get the flu. Health officials across North American encourage people to get the flu shot. It not only protects people from the miserable symptoms associated with the common cold and flu, it saves the work force thousands of lost work hours, as well as the medical system billions of healthcare dollars. Now a group of Toronto researchers say they’ve discovered that influenza vaccinations can significantly reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death from heart disease.
Cardiologists and scientists at Toronto’s Women’s College Hospital and University of Toronto reviewed medical data going as far back as the 1960’s. They discovered a 50 percent reduction in the risk of having a “major cardiovascular event” in the year following the flu shot.
Doctors and scientists can’t say for sure why the influenza vaccine lowers the risk of heart disease so they suggest more studies to unravel the mystery. Until now there hasn’t been a lot of evidence to suggest that the flu shot can curb heart disease, among those who have never had cardiac issues, yet there has been a lot said about protecting yourself against cold and flu once you have had a cardiac episode. The America Heart Association recommends the influenza immunization as a secondary method of prevention for those who have already suffered from a heart attack.
It is a good thing that we are finding ways to entice people to receive vaccines, even if it is not intentional. I am curious to see how many of the 100 million vaccines that get produced, end up being used. If only 30% of the adult population gets the vaccine are the rest given to children, or are there extra vaccines left over. This information need go be shown more, if more people get vaccinated the flu is less likely to spread, and we will not have flu seasons that are so bad, especially because we just had one of the worst flu seasons in years.
ReplyDeleteYou both bring up an interesting point about the 100 million vaccines that are produced where only 30% of Americans receive them. What happens to the extra vaccines? On one hand, it is better to protect yourself ahead of time from a disease rather than suffer through it, but on the other hand, there are a lot of mixed messages about vaccines in the news and in the public knowledge. For example, my cousin just had a baby, and the time for her to begin receiving vaccines is coming, and my cousin wants to try to figure out what vaccines are necessary and which aren’t. As I have been reiterating, with any new vaccine there could be future unwanted side effects, which makes a lot of people (especially those with young children) very nervous. What I’m wondering is, what are the benefits of herd immunity versus relying on vaccines? Do we really want to fill our bodies with chemicals if they’re unnecessary? I guess what I’m wondering is which vaccines are actually vital to our health, and which vaccines are made solely so that we have one less cold to get over.
ReplyDeleteI cannot see any obvious way that an injection of a weakened influenza virus would reduce the risk of heart disease and strokes. It may simply be that people who take yearly influenza vaccines are more concerned about their general health than those who choose not to get the vaccine, and the two conditions are only connected by how healthy a person is. Still, it would be very interesting if a healthy heart was indeed a side effect of an influenza vaccine, especially given that heart disease is the number one cause of preventable death in America. In between tackling such problems as affordable AIDS treatment and MDR-TB, it would be worth undertaking additional medical research to see if influenza vaccines could have more than one benefit.
ReplyDeleteI think this article is very interesting. It shows that sometimes even doctors cant control what medicines may do to help many different problems the body has. I agree with Brian with his opinion stating that maybe people who overall get the flu shot just do many other things for their health as well. Although it is interesting that these studies are being provided. It also probably makes many people think the they might as well get the flu shot if it could potentially help the heart stay healthy as well. I personally never get the flu vaccine because like Vallis says my mom doesn't think it is vital to our health. Maybe one day the influenza vaccine will be a vaccine that people are forced to get along with many others. You bring up a good topic which is debatable and very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis article outlines the beauty and the risks of modern medicine. There is so much we don't know about medication and vaccines. There is still so much that hasn't been discovered, tested, or investigated. But even more than that, we don't know everything about the medicines and vaccines we are currently using, which is a scary thought. If this vaccine can give us good protection against heart disease (assuming it is proven true) maybe other vaccines are giving us other protections that we don't know about, or are harming us in ways we don't know about.
ReplyDeleteThis article was very interesting. Its crazy how much modern medicine can do for a person. One would never think that by being protected from the flu could help the health of your heart. However, these Toronto scientists are just in the beginnings of their findings and could come to the conclusion that it is just a coincidence. I feel that there just isn't enough evidence yet. However, it doesn't hurt to get a flu shot with the added bonus that it might prevent heart attack. I think the people in Toronto should continue their studies because this could shape out to being an interesting finding.
ReplyDeleteI agree that I cannot see a connection with an influenza shot and cardiovascular health, as Brian commented above. I agree that it is more of an overall, general awareness of one's personal health that may aid in helping one's heart. An interesting point brought up in class is the idea of medicine being majorly mental. For example, in the nation-wide project to find a cure to polio, some children were injected with saline, which is just sugar and water. The was a type of control to ensure the results from the study because if a child believed he or she was vaccinated, he or she may act differently knowing they were given medicine. I agree that feeling better has a lot to do with being positive and believing you are helping your body and your health.
ReplyDeleteI find this perplexing; as well as everybody else. Michela and Brian's posts point out some interesting questions. Part of the connection between the vaccine and the decreased risk of heart disease may be a general concern with health as Brian pointed out. I also see no connection between the two, and am both worried and concerned that a vaccine meant to do nothing with the heart could have such a profound side effect. Does it help or harm the body in other ways? What about the other dozens of vaccines that a lot of people take commonly, such as those for tetanus, measles, and Hep A and B? Those may have positive side effects as well, or we could soon discover that they dangerously effect our bodies. This article worries, me and I hope that these other vaccines aren't as unpredictable as the flu vaccine.
ReplyDeleteI find this perplexing; as well as everybody else. Michela and Brian's posts point out some interesting questions. Part of the connection between the vaccine and the decreased risk of heart disease may be a general concern with health as Brian pointed out. I also see no connection between the two, and am both worried and concerned that a vaccine meant to do nothing with the heart could have such a profound side effect. Does it help or harm the body in other ways? What about the other dozens of vaccines that a lot of people take commonly, such as those for tetanus, measles, and Hep A and B? Those may have positive side effects as well, or we could soon discover that they dangerously effect our bodies. This article worries, me and I hope that these other vaccines aren't as unpredictable as the flu vaccine.
ReplyDelete