Statins could dampen Flu vaccine effect

Statin drugs are widely used to lower lipids and battle cholesterol, but other actions of the drugs may blunt the immune response to flu vaccination, making it less effective in seniors, the main users of the drugs and among the most vulnerable to flu complications.

Two research teams published their findings in studies that appeared in the Oct 28 edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases. One was a post hoc review of immune response data from an earlier trial of an adjuvanted and unadjuvanted trivalent influenza vaccine (TIV), and the other looked at the impact of statins on the effectiveness of flu vaccines in preventing serious respiratory illnesses among people enrolled in a large managed care organization.

Globally, an estimated 1 billion people are on statin drugs. Aging immune systems may not respond as effectively to flu vaccine, and because older people bear such a large burden of deaths from seasonal flu, scientists have been working on better ways to protect seniors, such as developing a high-dose flu vaccine, approved specifically for the age-group in the United States in late 2009.

Medclinician