According to a Canadian study, vaccination against pneumonia almost halves the risk of a heart attack.

In this study the researchers from the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec compared 999 people (who were admitted to different Canadian hospitals for heart attacks) with those 3996 who were admitted for other reasons. The researchers didn’t find any difference in those who had or hadn’t the penumococcal vaccine in the previous year, but a 50 percent lower rate in those who were vaccinated two years earlier.

The study has been published in the current issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Dr. Mohammad Majid, who is senior research scientist at the Texas Heart Institute said: “Many theories and statistics indicate that there is a link between pneumonia and heart attacks. Actually, in the beginning of the 20th century, many scientists seemed to believe that heart attacks had an infectious origin.” Dr Majid also wrote an accompanying commentary on the study.

These days that belief has been rejected as most of the new studies stressed on other risk including high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity.

“The inflammation of coronary arteries may increase because of pneumonia and this reason is also associated with the risk of a heart attack. And when someone has pneumonia, inflammation gets double or even triple.” Majid added.

The researchers also noted lower rates of kidney failure and other problems in the people who were vaccinated against the infection.