MedWire News: People with cardiovascular disease and other risk factors are less likely to suffer a heart attack if they have received the pneumococcal vaccination, researchers have found.

Pneumococcal vaccination helps protect against infection with a type of bacteria called Streptococcus pneumoniae, which can cause pneumonia, meningitis and other serious conditions in susceptible people, especially the elderly and children.

“In addition to preventing acute Streptococcus pneumoniae infections, the vaccine is thought to alter the natural history of atherosclerosis [artery disease],” say Dr Danielle Pilon, from the Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada, and team.

The researchers studied data from 3996 patients with heart attack risk factors, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol levels, who were admitted to hospital between 1997 and 2003.

They compared pneumococcal vaccination rates in this group with those in a similar group of patients who had suffered heart attacks.

After accounting for age, heart disease risk factors, gender and other variables, the researchers found that receipt of the pneumococcal vaccine was associated with around a 50% reduced risk of heart attacks.

Further analysis revealed that heart-protective effects of pneumococcal vaccination were mainly evident among patients who had received the jab more than 2 years previously, compared with more recent vaccination.

Writing in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Dr Pilon and colleagues summarise: “Pneumococcal vaccination was associated with a decrease of more than 50% in the rate of myocardial infarction [heart attack] 2 years after exposure.”

They add: “If confirmed, this association… may offer another reason to promote pneumococcal vaccination.”