Jan 26 (Reuters) – New data from one U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) database shows a possible stroke risk link for older adults who received an updated Pfizer (PFE.N)/BioNTech (22UAy.DE) COVID-19 booster shot, but the signal is weaker than what the agency had flagged earlier in January, health officials said on Thursday.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials said they had not detected a link between the shots and strokes in two other safety monitoring databases.
The new data was presented at a meeting of outside experts that advise the FDA on vaccine policy.
Earlier this month, U.S. health officials said they had detected the possible link to ischemic strokes in people over age 65 who received the newer booster shots in its Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) database. They said at the time it was very unlikely to represent a true clinical risk.
Dr. Nicola Klein of healthcare company Kaiser Permanente, which maintains VSD data for the CDC, said the rate of strokes observed in the database had slowed in recent weeks, but the signal was still statistically significant, meaning likely not by chance.
Most of the confirmed cases had also received a flu vaccine at the same time, which might be a factor, she said.
FDA scientist Richard Forshee said the agency plans to study whether there is any increased risk of stroke from receiving the two shots at the same time.
Both agencies still recommend older adults receive the booster shots, now tailored to target Omicron variants as well as the original coronavirus.
Dr. Walid Gellad, professor of medicine at University of Pittsburgh, said the issue required further investigation.
“Sometimes signals are not clear,” Gellad said in an email. “It makes sense to look into it more, and it doesn’t make sense to change practice given the known benefits (of getting the booster) in this age group.”
(This story has been corrected to fix the name to Nicola from Nicole in paragraph 5)
Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Bill Berkrot
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor and U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman delivers remarks as he attends a Labor Day celebration with U.S. President Joe Biden at the United Steelworkers of America Local Union 2227 in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, U.S., September 5, 2022. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
PHILADELPHIA, Sept 11 (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman on Sunday sought to allay concerns about his health after suffering a near-fatal stroke earlier this year, at a campaign rally focused on abortion rights in suburban Philadelphia.
Speaking at times in a halting and clipped fashion, Fetterman took aim at his Republican opponent in Pennsylvania’s Senate race, celebrity physician Mehmet Oz, for questioning his fitness to serve. “Unfortunately,” he said, “I have a doctor in my life doing that.”
He spoke for about 10 minutes before moving slowly off the stage. He walked into the crowd, shaking hands, greeting people and smiling for selfies as AC-DC’s “Back in Black” played.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, has largely kept off the campaign trail since a stroke in May that he said almost killed him. Oz has seized on the issue, suggesting Fetterman’s health would prevent him from carrying out his duties if elected.
Polls show Fetterman leading Oz in a race that will help determine whether President Joe Biden’s Democrats hold onto their razor-thin margin in the U.S. Senate. The race for the seat held by retiring Republican Pat Toomey is important enough that both Biden and former President Donald Trump have traveled to the state in recent weeks to promote their parties’ candidates.
Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss their concerns, five state Democratic Party officials interviewed in the past two weeks expressed worries about Fetterman’s health and whether Republican attacks were swaying voters.
“It’s important for people to see John Fetterman out on the campaign trail and to see for themselves that he’s all right. In a state where one (percentage) point can decide an election, it matters,” said Joe Foster, a state Democratic committeeman from the Philadelphia suburbs.
Fetterman held his first public event after his stroke in August, and has made a handful of campaign appearances since, including at a Labor Day parade in Pittsburgh. His campaign confirmed he relies on closed captions to conduct interviews due to hearing damage. He has said the symptoms are temporary.
Fetterman campaign spokesman Joe Cavello said he is up to the job.
“John marched for over two hours in the rain in Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade, and spoke at two other events afterwards,” Cavello told Reuters on Friday. “Anyone who’s seen John speak knows that while he’s still recovering, he’s more capable of fighting for PA than Dr. Oz will ever be.
Fetterman rallied with abortion-rights advocacy group Planned Parenthood in Philadelphia’s largest suburban county as he seeks to fire up women voters concerned about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June to end the nationwide right to abortion.
“Women are the reason we can win,” Fetterman said.
The stakes are high in Pennsylvania, where the governor’s race will decide whether women will maintain their access to abortions. Fetterman has vowed to help protect that access, while Oz says he’s “100% pro-life” but supports exceptions in cases of rape or incest or if the life of the mother is at risk.
Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Pennsylvania’s Muhlenberg University, said bread-and-butter campaign events like Sunday’s take on added meaning following the stroke.
“He doesn’t have to be pre-stroke John Fetterman, but people need to see that he’s capable,” Borick said.
Oz used an initial refusal by Fetterman to debate to argue that his rival was either afraid of him or concealing the scope of the damage done by the stroke.
“John Fetterman is either healthy and he’s dodging the debate because he does not want to answer for his radical left positions, or he’s too sick to participate,” Oz told reporters last week, according to media accounts.
Fetterman has now agreed to debate in October, but his campaign is looking at the possibility of using a closed captioning monitor for the event so that he does not miss any words as he continues to recover from his stroke.
“Let’s be clear, this has never really been about debates for Dr. Oz,” Fetterman said in a statement. “This whole thing has been about Dr. Oz and his team mocking me for having a stroke because they’ve got nothing else.”
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, Additional reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Bottles of alcoholic beverages are seen for sale in a shop in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne/File Photo
July 26 (Reuters) – EMBARGOED UNTIL 8:00 PM ET
Light-to-moderate alcohol consumption is linked to a reduced risk of heart attack, stroke and death among those with heart disease, according to a study published in the journal BMC Medicine on Monday.
The largest benefit – a 50% reduction in risk compared with non-drinkers – was seen in people with heart disease who drank an average of 6 grams of alcohol per day. (A standard “unit” of alcohol is 8 grams in the UK, whereas the average drink in the United States contains 14 grams.)
People who averaged 8 grams per day had a 27% lower risk of death from heart attack, stroke or angina, compared with those who did not drink. Those who drank 7 grams per day had a 21% lower risk of death due to any cause.
Drinking higher amounts, up to an average of 15 grams of alcohol daily, were linked with smaller reductions in risk. https://bit.ly/3kV2xN9
“Our findings suggest that people with CVD (cardiovascular disease) may not need to stop drinking in order to prevent additional heart attacks, strokes or angina, but that they may wish to consider lowering their weekly alcohol intake,” said study coauthor Chengyi Ding, a research student at University College London. She noted, however: “Alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of developing other illnesses.”
Ding cautioned that non-drinking individuals should not be encouraged to take up light drinking because of known adverse effects on other health outcomes, such as cancers.
The researchers, who assessed more than 48,000 patients with heart disease, found that higher alcohol consumption, up to 62 grams per day, was not associated with increased risks of recurrent heart attack or death compared with no alcohol consumption.
Overall, the alcohol amounts that were linked with benefit are lower than those recommended in most current guidelines. For example, the American Heart Association’s guidelines for heart patients recommend up to 2 U.S. drinks per day for men and 1 per day for women.
A 2019 study found older people with heart failure who consume up to seven drinks a week may live longer than those who completely avoid alcohol. (https://reut.rs/3y5VwwH)
However, researchers in the past have found that heavy drinking was associated with increased levels of blood biomarkers that indicate damage to the heart.
The new study analyzed data from the UK Biobank, the Health Survey for England, the Scottish Health Survey and from 12 previous studies.
The researchers caution that their findings may overestimate the reduction in risk for moderate drinkers with heart disease due to the under-representation of heavy drinkers and categorization of former drinkers who may have quit.
Reporting by Dania Nadeem in Bengaluru; Editing by Nancy Lapid and Dan Grebler
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.