July 25, 2024 – Need another reason to finally go get that shingles vaccine? It could lessen your risk of another dangerous disease: dementia.
And there are a lot of people who could still get this potential bonus, as only an estimated 30% of eligible Americans have received the two-dose shingles vaccine, known as Shingrix, according to government data.
Shingrix – the newer recombinant shingles vaccine – has a stronger effect in lowering dementia risk than Zostavax, the former live shingles vaccine, according to a new study out of Nature Medicine. Previous studies have found that taking Zostavax (which was discontinued in the U.S. in 2020) could also lower your chance of getting dementia, but the data was minimal.
Researchers from the University of Oxford studied electronic health data of more than 200,000 Americans over the age of 65. Shingrix led to a significantly lower risk of being diagnosed with dementia within 6 years after being vaccinated.
Getting the Shingrix vaccine was linked to a 17% longer period before being diagnosed with dementia. This means people who do develop dementia after getting the vaccine live an average of 164 more days without the disease.
Findings also show the effects were greater for women (22%) vs. men (13%). More studies are needed to understand exactly why the shingles vaccine can delay dementia, and why women experience greater effects than men, the researchers said during a news conference today.
“Many vaccines have adjuvants, or chemicals that are designed to make sure your body reacts to the vaccine in a strong enough way to get the protection it seeks,” said study co-author Paul Harrison, a doctor of medicine and psychiatry professor at the University of Oxford.
The other possibility, he said, is that the Shingrix vaccine has different and, maybe, more potent ingredients, and it's these chemicals, not necessarily the vaccine itself, that help.
Nearly 7 million people were living with dementia in the U.S. in 2023, according to the CDC, along with more than 900,000 people in the U.K.
It’s also important to note that the study findings suggest that the shingles vaccine could delay dementia, not necessarily prevent the disease, according to study co-author Maxime Taquet, PhD, a clinical lecturer at the U.K.-based National Institute for Health and Care Research. But a 5-month delay in dementia diagnoses is no small feat, and such outcomes could have major public health implications, Harrison said.
Shingles comes from herpes zoster virus – the same virus that causes chickenpox. In fact, around 10% of people who have previously had chickenpox will get shingles later in life. Shingles, which affects around 1 million Americans each year, usually starts off as a group of small bumps that later turn into blisters filled with fluid. The fluid dries out, and the blister usually crusts over in about 7 to 10 days. It is often very painful.
To prevent shingles, the CDC recommends healthy adults ages 50 and older get two doses of the Shingrix vaccine. Certain immunocompromised people ages 19 or older are also urged to get the vaccine.
“Shingles is an unpleasant and serious infection that causes a lot of pain during the blistering phase,” said Harrison. “For some people, that pain goes on for a very long time, and in some people, depending on which nerve is affected by the shingles, they could go blind, or other long-term implications.”
To learn more about shingles, click here. Go here for information on dementia.
