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Top Comments: Evidence That the Shingles Vaccine Reduces Incidence of Dementia [1]
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Date: 2025-04-13
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A new study shows evidence that the when the elderly take the thing;les vaccine, their chances of experiencing dementia in later years is diminished by about 20%. Previously, analysis of health records have shown that those who obtain the shingles vaccine have lower rates of dementia than those who don’t, but such analyses don’t correct for how the lives and lifestyles of patients who are inclined to get the vaccine differ from those who don’t, i. e., those who get the vaccine are generally more health-conscious than those who don’t, and could be taking better care of themselves through diet and exercise, and these factors might be the ones reducing the incidence of dementia.
However, these the researchers behind the new study found a natural controlled experiment in the data associated with the rollout of the shingles vaccine in Wales in 2013.
The vaccination program, which began Sept. 1, 2013, specified that anyone who was 79 on that date was eligible for the vaccine for one year. (People who were 78 would become eligible the next year for one year, and so on.) People who were 80 or older on Sept. 1, 2013, were out of luck -- they would never become eligible for the vaccine. These rules, designed to ration the limited supply of the vaccine, also meant that the slight difference in age between 79- and 80-year-olds made all the difference in who had access to the vaccine. By comparing people who turned 80 just before Sept. 1, 2013, with people who turned 80 just after, the researchers could isolate the effect of being eligible for the vaccine. The circumstances, well-documented in the country's health records, were about as close to a randomized controlled trial as you could get without conducting one, Geldsetzer said.
The researchers analyzed the health records of more than 280,000 elderly adults who did not have dementia at the beginning of the vaccination program, comparing their health outcomes on the basis of whether of not they got the vaccine. After an exhaustive search, the researchers were unable to identify any variables where the two groups (vaccinated and unvaccinated) differed except their vaccination status. Yet the vaccinated group showed a decrease of 20% in the incidence of dementia. Interestingly, there are gender differences. The reduction in the incidence of dementia is greater in some than in men.
At this point, any idea for how the shingles vaccine might prevent dementia is pure speculation. We know too little about whether the varicella-zoster virus (which causes both chicken pox and shingles) might have on the development of dementia, or if the vaccine might have an effect on some other process that could cause dementia. However, this result suggests that getting the shingles vaccine is probably a good idea for most older adults.
A caution, though: I got the shingles vaccine a few years ago, and it absolutely knocked me out for a day: in fact two days, as the shingles vaccine involves two shots taken some weeks apart. But if there’s a chance to avoid dementia, I’ll take it.
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