Pneumonia vaccine found to lower heart attack risk
A little-used vaccine against bacterial pneumonia appears to cut heart attack risk in half, Canadian researchers say.
In the study of nearly 5,000 patients with an elevated heart attack risk, patients who had been vaccinated had that risk decrease by 50 per cent.
The study, to be published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found the vaccine to be most protective two years after vaccination.
The study "could mean that we may end up being able to prevent many heart attacks with a vaccine," lead study author Dr. Francois Lamontagne, of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., told CTV News.
The vaccine fights off Streptococcus pneumoniae, an infection that can lead to pneumonia in older adults.
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