New research links an influenza vaccination to a lower risk of dementia in patients with heart failure. In a study of more than 20,000 heart failure patients, researchers found that those who had received the flu vaccine were 35 percent less likely to develop dementia.
Patients who’d been vaccinated more than 3 times had a 55 percent lower dementia risk.
Researchers believe that the flu virus may cause inflammation, and changes in blood pressure and heart rate than may harm brain tissue.
Study author Dr Ju-Chi Liu said, “these effects of the flu could play a role in the development of dementia, particularly in heart failure patients who already have impaired circulation in the brain.”
And he added, “the more vaccinations patients received, the less chance they had of getting the flu, which might be why they had an even lower risk of dementia.”
Results of the study were presented Monday at Heart Failure 2016 and the 3rd World Congress on Acute Heart Failure.