(Image source from: NPR Illinois)

The risk of premature death among newly-diagnosed heart-failure patients may be reduced by getting an annual flu shot, a study has claimed.

Influenza can be extremely serious or even fatal for patients with heart failure since they are oftentimes older than 65, have compromised circulation and other health complications, and infection may worsen the symptoms.

A researcher from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark analyzed data on 134,048 patients with recently diagnosed coronary failure more than a 12-year period.

Flu vaccination rates ranged from 16 percent in 2003 to 52 percent in 2015 with a peak of 54 percent in 2009, according to the study published in the journal Circulation.

The study found that flu vaccination was associated with an 18 percent reduced risk of premature death, even after accounting for some other factors such as medications, other health conditions, education, and income.

Annual flu vaccination following a heart failure diagnosis was associated with a 19 percent reduction in both all-cause and cardiovascular death when compared with no vaccination, researchers said.

Getting the flu shot less than one time per year but more than not at all was associated with a 13 percent reduced the risk of all-cause death and an 8 percent reduced risk of cardiovascular death, they said.

-Sowmya Sangam