--在一项由葛兰素史克公司支持的研究中，研究人员通过对接种流感疫苗的559名病人进行调查研究后发现，接种流感疫苗后，这些病人心脏病发病可能性降低了45%。这项在澳大利亚进行的调查暗示，公共健康系统或许应重新评价疫苗的对接种者尤其是对50-65岁人群的经济和健康消息。参与调查的Raina MacIntyre解释说，这可能是由于接种疫苗避免患者机体产生一些炎症蛋白，而这些蛋白可以阻塞血管引发心脏病。
详细英文报道：
With flu vaccines arriving in pharmacies and National Immunization Awareness Month well under way, the benefits of vaccines have been well documented in recent weeks. And a new study shows flu vaccines may provide even more benefits than originally thought.
The observational study looked at 559 hospital patients at the University of New South Wales and found immunization against flu cut the likelihood of heart attack by 45%. Data from the Australian study adds to epidemiological evidence linking influenza infection to cardiovascular hospitalizations, acute myocardial infarction and death. Collectively, the findings suggest healthcare systems may underestimate the health and economic benefits of vaccinating people aged 50 to 65 years old against influenza.
"Flu vaccine could be having more of a public health impact than it already is. We know that every flu season, heart attacks increase. To me, it's fairly convincing evidence that flu vaccine can protect against heart attack in people who already have diseased arteries," study co-author Raina MacIntyre told Bloomberg. Writing in the journal Heart, MacIntyre and her collaborators speculate that influenza and other acute infections increase the risk of heart disease because they cause the body to boost production of inflammatory proteins. These proteins then block blood vessels, leading to heart disease.
GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) supported the study with a grant and stands to benefit if the evidence in the Heart paper contributes to an expansion of vaccine recommendations. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends flu vaccines for everyone aged 6 months and older, other countries, such as Australia, focus immunizations on high-risk groups. A 2009 paper in Pharmacoeconomics had doubts about whether extending flu vaccinations in Australia to the 50-to-64-year-old age group would be cost effective. Evidence the flu vaccine cuts the risk of heart attacks could make the economics more favorable and open up a new market for GSK and its peers.