Being vaccinated in opposition to shingles may assist delay getting a dementia prognosis – a examine within the journal Nature Drugs suggests.
The work builds on earlier options {that a} shingles jab might have this unintended profit.
Researchers in contrast some 100,000 individuals who had a brand new shingles jab to an analogous group who had an older one.
On common, those that had the brand new jab had an additional 164 days free from a prognosis of dementia over six years. Additional work is required to show the hyperlink, scientists say.
Shingles is a painful, severe situation that’s extra frequent in older individuals.
It’s attributable to a reactivation of the Herpes zoster virus – the virus that causes hen pox.
A vaccine in opposition to shingles was launched in lots of nations about 18 years in the past.
Since then there was rising proof that the jab may assist shield in opposition to dementia – however no conclusive proof.
On this examine, researchers from the College of Oxford in contrast the well being information of individuals within the US who had the older Zostavax jab with a more moderen jab, referred to as Shingrix, which is more and more used within the UK.
Whereas comparable numbers nonetheless received dementia by the top of the examine, the researchers discovered, on common, over the six-year interval:
- Individuals who had Shingrix had 17% extra time and not using a prognosis of dementia than those that had the older vaccine
- The advantages had been larger for girls
Examine writer Prof Paul Harrison stated: “Even if it is a delay of 164 days, for example, on the public health level, that would not be a trivial finding.
“It’s a sufficiently big impact that if [the link is proved] it feels significant to us.”
Dr Sheona Scales, at charity Alzheimer’s Research UK, said finding new ways to reduce people’s risk was “very important”.
She added: “This analysis, carried out in a big group of individuals, suggests that individuals given the Shingrix shingles vaccine might need a lowered threat of dementia.
“But it isn’t clear how the vaccine might be reducing risk, nor whether the vaccine causes a reduction in dementia risk directly, or whether there’s another factor at play.”
Different components which have definitively been linked to an elevated dementia threat embrace smoking, hypertension and extreme alcohol consumption, she added.
Prof Harrison stated the examine threw up a lot of questions that must be urgently addressed.
“One possibility is the herpes viruses may be one of the many factors that might promote dementia,” he stated.
“Therefore a vaccine that is stopping you have a reactivation of the virus might delay whatever that process is that is leading you to have dementia in coming years.”
One other risk is that components within the vaccine, designed to assist the physique mount a protecting response, may play a component, he added.
Within the UK, a free shingles vaccine is obtainable to individuals who flip 65, these aged between 70 and 79, and other people aged 50 and over who’ve a severely weakened immune system.
Older shingles vaccines at the moment are being changed with Shingrix.
Shingrix is made by pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
It was not concerned within the analysis, however one of many scientists engaged on the examine does different, separate work with GSK.
