The shingles vaccine may do more than prevent a painful rash. New research from US scientists suggests it could help protect brain health later in life.
Older adults who received the shingles vaccine were less likely to develop dementia, and among those who already had dementia, vaccination was linked to slower disease progression and a lower risk of death.
The findings are based on health records from 282,557 adults aged 71 to 88 years in Wales, where a nationwide shingles vaccination programme began in 2013. A unique eligibility rule created a natural comparison: people who were 79 on a specific cutoff date could receive the vaccine, while those who had just turned 80 could not. This allowed researchers to compare nearly identical groups.
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Seven years later, about one in eight participants had been diagnosed with dementia. However, those who received the shingles vaccines were 20 per cent less likely to develop the disease than those who were unvaccinated, said a finding previously published in Nature.
A newer analysis published in Cell showed the benefits extended across all stages of cognitive decline. Vaccinated individuals were less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment, an early stage of memory and thinking problems.
Additionally, among people who already had dementia when they became eligible, nearly half of the 7,049 Welsh seniors with dementia at the start of the vaccination programme died from the disease during a nine-year follow-up, compared with only about 30 per cent of those who received the shingles vaccine. In both studies, the protective effects appeared stronger in women than men.
