Only one in three people with cardiovascular disease report receiving an influenza vaccination in the past year, a new study shows. In addition to the higher risk of flu-related complications among chronically ill individuals, the investigators note that there is evidence that influenza may precipitate a heart attack.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control recommends annual influenza vaccination for people with chronic heart disease.

“Special efforts should be made to identify the reasons for such low coverage and to improve the vaccine coverage among this high-risk group,” Dr. Umed A. Adjani of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and colleagues write in the February issue of the American Heart Journal.

They analyzed data on roughly 30,000 people with and without heart disease from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey, representing 199 million adults nationwide.

Influenza vaccination coverage was lowest among heart disease patients younger than 50 years old, the researchers found, with 22 percent reporting immunization in the past 12 months. Older people with heart disease were more likely to be immunized, with roughly 40 percent of those aged 50 to 64 and 70 percent of those 65 and older having received a flu shot.

Coverage varied with type of illness, with congestive heart failure patients the most likely to receive influenza vaccination (37 percent) and Stroke patients the least (31 percent). Women and non-Hispanic whites were more likely than men and African-Americans and non-white Hispanics to report having been immunized.

Influenza infection is thought to play a role in the development of atherosclerosis and the triggering of its complications, the authors point out in their article. Influenza vaccination is a “simple, inexpensive, and effective way” of reducing illness and death among adults with heart disease, they say.

SOURCE: American Heart Journal, February 2005.