Heart patients who had a flu shot were four times less likely to die than those who hadn't, according to a new study from Argentina.

Researchers studied 200 patients who had been admitted to the hospital for heart attack and 101 patients scheduled for angioplasty with stent placement (PCI). The patients were randomly selected to receive a flu shot or not.

At six months' follow-up, only two percent of those who had been vaccinated against flu had died, compared to eight percent in the control group. The combined events of death, recurring heart attack, and rehospitalization occurred in 11 percent of the patients vaccinated, compared with 23 percent of the others.

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Source:  Gurfinkel EP, de la Fuente RL, Mendiz O, et al. Influenza vaccine pilot study in acute coronary syndromes and planned percutaneous coronary interventions. Circulation, May 2002;105:2143. (Abs.)