Nearly 12 percent of adult patients hospitalized for influenza had acute heart problems, a new study shows.
Published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, the study includes data from the U.S. Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network for flu seasons 2010-11 through 2017-18.
Of 80,261 people hospitalized for the flu, 11.7 percent had an acute cardiovascular event. The most common cardiovascular events were acute heart failure (6.2 percent) and acute ischemic heart disease (5.7 percent).
Older age, tobacco use, underlying cardiovascular disease, diabetes and renal disease were significantly associated with a higher risk of acute heart failure and acute ischemic heart disease among hospitalized flu patients.