Shingles vaccine may help cut dementia risk, study suggests

Vaccination for shingles could be linked to a reduction in the risk of developing dementia, a study published in Nature has reported.1

Researchers at Stanford University in California analysed cases of dementia in Wales, based on the health records of more than 280 000 adults born in 1925 to 1942. Over a seven year follow-up period the results showed that dementia diagnoses were 3.5 percentage points lower in people who received the live attenuated herpes zoster vaccine (Zostavax) than in those who did not receive it.

Pascal Geldsetzer, lead author of the study and assistant professor of medicine at Stanford University, said, “For the first time, we have evidence for a cause-and-effect relationship between live attenuated shingles vaccination and dementia. The effect sizes appear to be large and, if truly causal, would have profound implications for population health and dementia research.”

The study took advantage of a public health policy in Wales that meant that, as of 1 September 2013, people …