KevinMD November 4, 2025
As an internist and lipidologist, I’ve spent decades parsing data on statins, ezetimibe, PCSK9 inhibitors, and the endless parade of “LDL-lowering breakthroughs.” Yet the most potent, and perhaps the most underappreciated, intervention to prevent heart attacks each winter doesn’t come from a cardiology journal or a pharmaceutical rep. It comes from your local pharmacy fridge. For years, I’ve told my patients that getting a flu shot may prevent a heart attack more effectively than starting a statin. That’s not hyperbole; it’s data.
A landmark self-controlled case series in The New England Journal of Medicine found that the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) jumped sixfold in the seven days after lab-confirmed influenza infection. Catching the flu, it turns out, is like...
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