A study of more than 80,000 adult patients hospitalized with flu over eight flu seasons found that sudden, serious heart complications occurred in 12% of patients. Dr. Eric Chow, an infectious diseases fellow at the University of Washington School of Medicine, says this highlights the importance of the flu vaccine. 

"One of the things that we need to do when we’re counseling our patients as physicians is to ensure that they know that the flu vaccine is going to protect them not just against the pulmonary manifestations, but potentially these other extrapulmonary complications of influenza," Chow says.

The investigators hope this study will encourage other studies to examine the effectiveness of the flu vaccine in protecting against the heart complications. See more in our related news release.