SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

Have you gotten a flu shot yet? It's especially important for anyone dealing with heart complications.

Research shows that people who have heart disease or who have experienced a stroke are at a higher risk of complications from the flu.

A 2020 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study tracked more than 80,000 U.S. adults who'd ended up in a hospital because of the flu. Researchers looked at eight years' worth of data. One in eight patients also experienced serious heart issues during that time.

Getting the flu increases your risk for everything from bronchitis to pneumonia to a heart attack.

Dr. Dipika Gopal is a Kaiser Permanente cardiologist. She said those side effects of flu put you at risk for increased inflammation, which is problematic for lots of u

See Full Page