Flu Vaccine May Help Keep People With Type 2 Diabetes Out Of The Hospital

In a recent study, it has been found that people with diabetes who get flu vaccine may have less chances of being hospitalized because of cardiovascular or respiratory problems

The Wenatchee World reported that lead study author Dr. Eszter Vamos, a public health researcher at Imperial College London said that the potential effect of the influenza vaccine to lower down serious illness and death shows the importance on why people with diabetes should show renewed efforts to receive the flu vaccine every year.

Vamos and her colleagues analyzed seven years if data of about 125,000 people in England with type-2 diabetes associated with aging and obesity. This accounted for most cases of the disease. Reuters

reported that researchers found that vaccination was related to a 30 percent decrease in hospital admission rates for stroke, 22 percent decrease for heart failure, and 15 percent for pneumonia or influenza.

"Research shows that in addition to severe chest infections, flu may also lead to heart attacks and strokes," Vamos said. "Most severe influenza complications occur in the elderly and people who suffer from long-term conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and asthma," she added by email.

To understand the effects of flu vaccines on the odds of hospital admissions and death for people suffering from diabetes, researchers studies patients data that included their age, weight, smoking status and gender. They also looked at whether these patients was diagnosed or prescribed for any other medical conditions.

Researchers also looked at records during flu season, as well as summer months when flu cases were not as common. They found that patients who got the flu vaccine had 24 percent lower death rates from all causes during the study period.

The same patients also were not frequently admitted to the hospital, but aside from that, researchers did not find any dramatic difference to rule out the possibility that it was only by chance, Fox News reported.

Meanwhile, authors of the study observed that one limitation encountered in the study is that researchers were not successful in checking that not everybody was diagnosed with diabetes. The authors also pointed out that it might be possible that people who were vaccinated healthier in other ways than those who skip their annual flu shots.

The findings highlighted the benefits of vaccination, said Dr. Laura Rosella, a public health researcher at the University of Toronto who wasn't involved in the study. "It is well known that people with chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease, are more likely to suffer complications from the flu," Rosella said by email.

"For this reason," Rosella added, "the best protection among people with chronic conditions is preventing the flu in the first place, which can be achieved by receiving the influenza vaccine."