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By Amy Norton<\/b>
HealthDay Reporter<\/i><\/p>\n
TUESDAY, Aug. 25, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
Amid the COVID-19<\/a> pandemic, a new U.S. study serves as a reminder of how severe the seasonal flu<\/a> can be.<\/p>\n Researchers found that among 90,000 Americans hospitalized with the flu<\/a>, 12% had a serious heart<\/a> complication, including heart attack<\/a> and sudden heart failure<\/a>. Many ended up in the intensive care unit, and 7% died in the hospital.<\/p>\n The study shows that COVID-19<\/a> isn’t alone among viruses<\/a> that can up the odds for heart<\/a> events.<\/p>\n The findings also underscore the importance of getting the flu shot<\/a> — especially this year, experts said.<\/p>\n “The flu is not ‘just a cold<\/a>,'” said Dr. Kathryn Edwards, a professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville. “People often don’t appreciate how serious it can be.”<\/p>\n A yearly flu shot<\/a> is always recommended, she said, especially for people older than 65 and those with certain chronic conditions such as heart disease<\/a>, diabetes<\/a> and asthma<\/a>. They are at heightened risk of flu complications.<\/p>\n This season, flu vaccination is particularly important because of the pandemic, Edwards said. That’s in part to avoid having hospitals overrun by both flu and COVID patients.<\/p>\n Edwards, who was not involved in the study, is also a spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.<\/p>\n While the flu usually causes temporary miseries like fever<\/a>, cough<\/a> and a sore throat<\/a>, it can also lead to complications such as pneumonia<\/a> and other secondary infections. The infection can also worsen certain chronic health conditions, including heart disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n But that is not necessarily common knowledge, said Dr. Shikha Garg, the senior researcher on the new study.<\/p>\n “I don’t know that these cardiac complications are on people’s radar,” said Garg, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>. “This study shows just how common they are.”<\/p>\n For the study, Garg’s team looked at 90,000 flu hospitalizations in 17 U.S. states between 2010 and 2018. Just under 12% of those patients suffered a heart complication.<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, people with existing heart conditions were at greater risk: 21% of those patients had a cardiac complication — as did 19% of patients with kidney disease<\/a> and 15% of those with diabetes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Edwards said the flu may directly trigger heart complications, by spurring body-wide inflammation. If, for example, a person has artery-clogging “plaques,” that inflammation could rupture the plaque and lead to a heart attack<\/a>.<\/p>\n Of study patients with heart complications, almost one-third landed in the ICU, and 7% died.<\/p>\n
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