Study Finds Strong Link Between Flu And Heart Disease

SEATTLE — A new study from the Centers for Disease Control has found a strong link between influenza and heart disease.

The study, published Tuesday in Annals of Internal Medicine, looked at 80,000 plus adult patients who had been hospitalized with the flu across eight different flu seasons. After pouring through data from those thousands of infections, researchers found that 12 percent of flu patients had serious heart complications— that's one out of every eight patients. Of those flu patients, 30 percent had to be taken to the ICU and 7 percent died in the hospital.

In addition, five percent of all 80,000 patients, or one in 20, had a cardiac complication despite no prior history of heart conditions.

“Previous to our study, there had been suggestions between the link, but our study shows just how common it is,” said Eric Chow, infectious diseases fellow at UW School of Medicine and lead author of the study.

Fortunately, unlike the coronavirus causing the current pandemic, there is an effective vaccine to protect against the flu. The CDC recommends that everyone 6 months or older receive a flu vaccine yearly before the flu season hits.

“There are few respiratory viruses we have a vaccine for,” Chow said. “Our team motto is 'Get a flu shot.'”

According to the CDC, the best time to get the flu shot for the 2020-21 flu season will be September or October this fall, but late adopters may still end up receiving the shot in January or later depending on how long the flu sticks around this winter.

Read the full study in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Find more flu guidance from the CDC on their website.