Dementia Risk Lower in Vaccinated Heart Failure Patients
Patients with heart failure (HF) who receive the flu vaccine are less likely to develop dementia, according to a new study.
Previous research has linked cognitive impairment with HF and the immune response and subsequent inflammation brought on after becoming infected with the flu with dementia. However, the potential protective benefits of the flu vaccine in these individuals is limited.
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Therefore, the researchers followed 20,509 patients over age 60 years who visited health care clinics in Taiwan with a diagnosis of HF from 2000 to 2012. They excluded patients who had dementia at baseline.
The researchers found that 10,797 patients had received at least 1 flu vaccine during the study period, whereas 9712 did not receive any.
Analysis showed that patients who were vaccinated were 35% less likely to develop dementia than those who were not vaccinated. In addition, patients who were vaccinated more than 3 times had a 55% lower risk.
After adjusting for age, the researchers found that patients over age 70 years had a 44% lower risk, and those between ages 60 and 69 years had a 26% lower risk.
“If influenza vaccination can prevent the inflammation induced by flu, it may decrease the risk of dementia in heart failure patients,” the researchers concluded. “This is an important prospect for dementia prevention. More efforts are needed to ensure that patients with heart failure are vaccinated against influenza every year. Our data suggests that these patients benefit even more from vaccination than was previously thought.”
—Amanda Balbi
Reference:
Flu vaccination associated with lower dementia risk in patients with heart failure [news release]. Florence, Italy: European Society of Cardiology; May 23, 2016. http://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/Press-releases/Last-5-years/flu-vaccination-associated-with-lower-dementia-risk-in-patients-with-heart-failu. Accessed May 23, 2016.