With the peak of flu season approaching, health officials warn that death from influenza is more common among individuals with heart disease than among patients with any other chronic medical condition. However, according to a new nationwide survey of heart disease patients more than one in three heart disease patients (37 percent) do not plan to get a flu shot this year. In fact, only half (53 percent) received their flu shot last year, despite their serious medical condition(s).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), vaccination is the best way to prevent the flu and its severe complications.

Donnette Smith, national Mended Hearts board member said, "As a long time member of Mended Hearts and as a heart disease patient, I know how important it is to have the tools necessary to keep our hearts as healthy as possible."

Smith continues, "Heart disease is something that we have to think about on a daily basis, so I do not want to be concerned about getting the flu as well. The flu shot is a simple and important preventive step that we, as heart patients, may not think about in terms of our heart health when actually, the flu shot enables us to once again take our heart health into our own hands."

The survey findings reinforce the data collected by the CDC which found that only one in three adults with heart disease received the flu vaccine in 2005. The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) recommend that the 12 million people in the U.S. with cardiovascular conditions receive an annual flu shot. Other authorities, including the CDC's Advisory Committee on

Immunization Practices (ACIP), recommend people at high-risk for serious flu-related complications, including people who suffer from heart disease, get vaccinated to protect against the flu every year.

The AHA and ACC recognize the value of flu shots as part of complete care for patients with heart disease and have issued an advisory urging all cardiologists to make flu shots available in their clinics as well as to strongly encourage their patients to get the flu shot.

Clyde W. Yancy, M.D., says, "It is startling that only one in three adults with heart disease are taking a simple precaution to help prevent the flu."

Yancy continues, "For those people over 65 years of age living with heart disease, flu shots can reduce hospitalization length, medical costs and work absenteeism, making them a simple and cost-saving treatment option. An ounce of prevention goes a long way -- it is as simple as that."