A study conducted by researchers at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota involved data from 286.000 patients over the age of 65 years and determined that influenza vaccination can reduce the risk of heart disease by 19 percent and the risk of stroke by 23 percent. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, also concluded that vaccine recipients were 50 percent less likely to die from any cause compared to people who did not receive the vaccine. Minneapolis VA Center chief of medicine and lead researcher Kristin Nichol asserts that the vaccine's beneficial qualities stem from flu prevention rather than from any medical or chemical impact of the vaccine itself. The results of the study is another sign that flu vaccination rates for people over the age of 65 years need improvement, says Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist Jim Singleton.