Flu Vaccine Could Lower Risk of Ventricular Arrhythmia in Patients With COPD, Study Finds

The influenza vaccination may be associated with lower risks of ventricular arrhythmia (VA) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to findings of a new study.

This is the first study to investigate the association between flu vaccine and the risk of VA in patients with COPD, the researchers from hospitals and universities in Taiwan wrote in Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine.

In the population-based longitudinal cohort study of 18,658 patients in Taiwan, the researchers retrospectively analyzed the data of patients with COPD who were 55 years and older from the National Health Insurance Research Database from January 2001 to December 2012.

They divided the patients into vaccinated and unvaccinated groups, and then utilized time-varying Cox proportional hazards regression to assess the time to event hazards of influenza vaccination exposure.

The investigators discovered that the influenza vaccination was associated with a significantly lower risk of VA occurrence in patients with COPD—specifically those aged 55 to 74 years.

They found that the risk of VA occurrence was significantly lower in the vaccinated group during flu season and all seasons (adjusted HR [aHR], 0.62; 95% CI, 0.41-0.95; aHR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.44-1.08; and aHR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.48-0.89, in the influenza season, noninfluenza season, and all seasons, respectively).

In addition, more than 1 receipt of vaccination was associated with lower risk of VA occurrence in patients with a higher CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc (congestive heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, stroke or transient ischemic attack, vascular disease, age, sex) score. Among patients with CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc scores of 2 to 3, receiving 1, 2 or 3, doses of influenza vaccination were associated with lower risk of VA occurrence in all seasons (aHR, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.10-0.80; aHR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.10-0.68, respectively).

Patients also had a lower risk of VA occurrence after the first time of vaccination if they did not have a history of stroke, ischemic heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, diabetes, and heart failure. “After receiving 2 to 3 times of vaccination, a lower risk of VA occurrence was observed among patients without these medical histories except heart failure and ischemic heart disease,” the researchers wrote.