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TUESDAY, Dec. 11, 2018 (HealthDay News) — After extensive adjustment for confounders, influenza vaccination is associated with a reduced risk for all-cause and cardiovascular death among patients with heart failure, according to a study published online Dec. 10 in Circulation<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Daniel Modin, from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and colleagues conducted a nationwide cohort study including all 134,048 patients aged >18 years diagnosed with heart failure between January 2003 and June 2015. The authors examined the correlation between influenza vaccination and long-term survival; follow-up was performed for 99.8 percent of patients, with a median follow-up of 3.7 years.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that during the study period, vaccination coverage ranged from 16 to 54 percent. Receiving one or more vaccinations during follow-up correlated with an increased risk for death in unadjusted analysis; after adjustment for inclusion date, comorbidities, medications, household income, and education level, receipt of one or more vaccinations correlated with a reduced risk for death (all-cause mortality, hazard ratio, 0.82; cardiovascular mortality, hazard ratio, 0.82). Compared with intermittent vaccination, annual vaccinations, vaccination early in the year (September to October), and a greater number of vaccinations were correlated with larger reductions in the risk for death.<\/p>\n
“Annual influenza vaccination may be an effective treatment strategy to improve survival in heart failure,” the authors write.<\/p>\n