A large scale study has shown that cancer patients and cancer survivors are more likely to die from flu than the general population even many years after the cancer has gone, and should take an annual flu jab.
Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), analysed medical records from 1990 to 2014 of more than 630,000 people in the UK, including over 100,000 survivors of a number of different cancers.
First, they found that cancer survivors are more likely to be admitted to hospital with flu and they are more to die from seasonal flu even after a decade from their cancer diagnosis.
Survivors of most cancers had a doubled risk of death, but those who had had leukaemia, lymphoma or multiple Myeloma had nine times the risk.
As with Covid, the most vulnerable cancer patients were those with Metabolic Syndrome (having at least 3 of the following conditions - high blood pressure, high blood sugar, low good cholesterol, high triglycerides, higher waist measurement), which is linked to diseases such as Cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, obesity, kidney disease and diabetes, which anyway increase the risk of death from ‘flu and Covid.
Go to: Metabolic Syndrome
Although the higher risk for survivors was noted, researchers stated it must be balanced against the fact that only 1 in a 1000 cancer survivors was ever even admitted to hospital each year with 'flu.
Despite this, researchers argued that cancer patients and survivors should be prioritised for the ‘flu jab.