YOU NEED TO KNOW
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The shingles vaccine may slow the progression of dementia or offer protection against its development
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Research published in medical journal A cell shows that the vaccine “reduces or prevents the progression of the disease throughout the course of the disease… of dementia”
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“We’re much more confident that what we’re looking at here is cause and effect,” said the study’s senior author.
The shingles vaccine can show the progress of dementia and “prevent early memory decline.”
Researchers looked at the health records of more than 300,000 people in Wales between 2013 and 2022, and found that the herpes zoster (HZ) vaccine (the medical term for shingles) “reduces or prevents disease progression throughout the course of the disease… of dementia,” according to new research published in the medical journal. A cell.
The researchers found that for those living with dementia, the vaccine reduced their risk of death by 29.5%; For those who had not been diagnosed, the vaccine reduced the likelihood of being diagnosed with cognitive impairment by 3%.
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Stock image of a doctor preparing a vaccine.
“The effect of HZ vaccination – both on the reduction of new diagnoses of MCI and deaths due to dementia – was greater among women than men,” noted the study.
“This means that the vaccine does not only have a preventive potential, but actually a therapeutic potential as a treatment, because we see some benefits already among those who have dementia,” Dr. Pascal Geldsetzer, assistant professor of medicine at Stanford University and senior author of the new study, told CNN. “For me, that was really exciting to see and unexpected.”
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The shingles vaccine is a two-dose series of shots given at age 50, or to immunocompromised adults once they turn 19, explains the US Centers for Disease Control. One in three adults will develop shingles, which causes an itchy rash on one side of the body and significant, often long-lasting, nerve pain.
It’s caused by the same virus as chickenpox, the CDC explains — but even if you’ve had chickenpox, you should get vaccinated because “the virus remains dormant (inactive) in the body. It can reactivate years later and cause chickenpox.”
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Stock image of an older adult with dementia.
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The researchers represented eligibility requirements for the shingles vaccination in Wales and explained that they could compare groups that were eligible with those that were not.
“We know that they should have a similar level of physical activity, diets, etcetera,” said Geldsetzer. “So, we’re much more confident that what we’re actually looking at here is cause and effect, rather than just a correlation.”
Read the original article on People