Flu Shot May Help Prevent Heart Attacks - CNN

(CNN) -- A flu shot can do more than just fight against influenza, a new study suggests. It may also fight against heart attacks.


Adults who take the flu vaccine may be less likely to get their first heart attack the next year, researchers say.

The study, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, was conducted to add to other studies that suggested that there is a link between respiratory infections and heart attacks.

"By the nature of the study, it does not prove cause and effect. So it does not prove that the flu vaccine prevents heart attacks. But it does show that the flu vaccine is associated with the reduction," said Niro Siriwardena, one of the authors of the study and a professor at the University of Lincoln in England.

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