Dr. Tiffany Di Pietro discusses the 2018 flu season and a study showing influenza increases heart attack risk. The H3N2 strain is particularly problematic because flu-related inflammation and dehydration can trigger cardiac events in vulnerable patients. She advises against daily aspirin without a doctor's guidance and emphasizes calling 911 for suspected heart attack symptoms.
Welcome back. I want to show you futures right here. The markets have been selling off this morning once again, continuing that sharp decline yesterday. Dow Industrials down 189 points right now. That's off of the lows, actually. The Nasdaq is also off of the lows, down 18 points, and the S&P 500 down 8.5. Going to be a tough open once again. Want to turn to this now. Could the flu do more than just make you feel lousy? A new study claims that having the flu virus actually increases your risk of having a heart attack. Joining us right now is Dr. Tiffany Di Pietro, board-certified cardiologist. Good to see you, Dr. Di Pietro. Thanks so much for joining us. Actually, you have a little bit of a sinus infection or a cold yourself today.
Got the funk.
So, so before we go into that, what does a doctor do when she's sick?
Antibiotics, same as everyone else. Okay.
You're on antibiotics.
Yeah, I'm not contagious.
What about this flu outbreak across the U.S.? It's been a really tough season. What are your thoughts on this?
So we were discussing earlier, you know, the problem with this flu strain this year is, like we were saying, is that we The CDC develops these flu vaccines ahead of flu season as a good guesstimate as to what strains we're going to have this year. The problem with this year's H3N2 strain is a strain of influenza A, which is the more potent strain this year. It mutates as it goes through the population. So although the flu vaccine is great and it helps to control it to some extent, it's not working as well this year because of those mutations.
So it can cause a heart attack?
It's not that it causes a heart attack. What happens is influenza is a systemic disease. So if you've ever seen anyone with the flu or if you've had it, you feel ill, like your whole body aches, everything hurts, and it's a systemic thing. So you have inflammation everywhere, including in the arteries of the heart, which predisposes to having blood clots. And then you get dehydrated because you're not drinking because you feel bad. Your blood pressure goes down, decreases blood flow to the heart, so it increases cardiac issues.
If you're prone to heart disease or heart attack and you have the flu, or you think you might be getting the flu, what do you do to protect yourself?
Be much more cognizant of your symptoms. Really? And patients that have chronic medical problems, these are gonna be your patients that are more likely to have an adverse cardiac event as well. So if you have risk factors, if you're diabetic, hypertensive, kidney disease, and you have those risks of having heart problems anyways, those are the patients who, and the people who really need to be more cognizant when they get sick.
And they should have Advil around or?
In terms of what?
Isn't there one of, if you have a heart attack or it prevents heart attacks?
Is it aspirin? Aspirin.
Aspirin.
Aspirin.
Aspirin.
So should we be taking one aspirin a day?
Not everyone. Not everyone. The vast majority of the population should not be taking a baby aspirin every day.
Why do people take it?
To try and prevent heart attacks because they're self-medicating instead of speaking with their doctor about what they should be doing. Right, people who have stroke risk, do they encourage them to take baby aspirin every day?
Yes.
So now emergency rooms have been flooded with people with the flu this year. If they see reports like this, you're prone to a heart attack if you have the flu, should— if someone has symptoms, should they be going to the hospital? You say you need to be more cognizant.
Heart attack symptoms? Yeah, absolutely. And that touches on another topic since it's Heart Month, and I wanted to talk about, if you think you're having a heart attack, don't drive yourself to the hospital. Call 911. It's something that we see a lot of, and it's a major problem. So, you know, if you have— regardless if you have the flu, if you feel like you're having chest pain, having cardiac symptoms, you need to call 911 and get to the hospital.
I will leave it there. Dr. Tiffany Di Pietro, great to see you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much. Feel better, Tiffany. Thank you. Still ahead
