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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2002;287:1255.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Getting an annual flu shot may offer significant protection against stroke in older individuals, according to new findings by French researchers (Stroke. 2002;33:513-518).

In the study, which involved interviews with 90 patients aged 60 years or older who had had a stroke and 180 matched control subjects, researchers gathered data about risk factors for stroke and also asked the patients if they had been vaccinated during the last influenza vaccination drive (which is in October in France) and every year during the previous 5 years.

The researchers had hypothesized that influenza vaccination might be protective against stroke because of prior research that showed that infections are associated with heart attack and strokes, perhaps by destabilizing atherosclerotic plaque. "Since subjects who have viral influenza can develop subsequent infections, we thought that flu vaccination may mean less infection overall and, therefore, less stroke," said Pierre Amarenco, MD, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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