Adverse Cardiovascular Events Often Are Associated with Influenza in Hospitalized Patients

Although respiratory symptoms are well-recognized features of influenza, adverse cardiovascular events also occur frequently and perhaps are less appreciated by clinicians. To delineate the gamut of acute adverse cardiovascular events associated with flu, researchers performed a cross-sectional study using data from the multicenter U.S. Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network from the 2010 to 2018 flu seasons.

More than 80,000 hospitalized patients (median age, 69) with laboratory-confirmed flu were included. Approximately 40% of patients had not received the seasonal flu vaccine. Twelve percent of patients had acute adverse cardiovascular events, most commonly acute heart failure or acute ischemic heart disease; among these patients,…