The study was funded and conducted by pharmaceutical giant GSK, which makes the Shingrix vaccine, and was presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Philadelphia.
Vaccine experts not involved in the study said more definitive studies are still needed, but the research adds to growing awareness that infectious agents may play a role in the development of some types of dementia.
“I think this is something that has to be taken seriously,” said Peter Hotez, a physician and co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital.
Growing evidence points to reduced dementia risk
The GSK study follows two other large, non-industry funded studies which have shown a lower risk of dementia in people who have received the shingles vaccine.
Last week, British researchers Nature Medicine A six-year review of the medical records of hundreds of thousands of people found that people who got Shingrix were 23 to 27 percent less likely to develop dementia than those who got vaccines for other diseases. The study was not funded by GSK, but one of the authors is a consultant to the company.
Another study of more than 282,000 people in Wales found that people who got a different shingles vaccine had a 22.4% lower risk of being diagnosed with dementia seven years after the shot compared with people who didn’t get the vaccine. The study, led by researchers at Stanford University and published in the journal Neurology last year, was published in the journal Neurology. Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
“Different groups, different methodologies have come up with broadly similar, if not exactly the same, results,” said Phil Dormitzer, global head of vaccine research and development and infectious disease research at GSK.The Shingrix vaccine is the only shingles vaccine available in the United States.
1 in 3 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up to 1 million people will develop shingles in their lifetime, an infectious disease caused by a reactivation of chickenpox. The virus can lie Shingles resides in the nervous system and, although rarely fatal, causes distressing symptoms including a painful blistered rash that can last for weeks, blindness and nerve pain that can last for months or years.
Vaccine experts say it makes sense that there could be a link between the shingles vaccine and a reduced risk of dementia.
“I think this is true,” said Paul Offit, a physician and professor of vaccinology at the University of Pennsylvania, who also serves on the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.
Why vaccines may prevent dementia
Offit and other experts said there are two reasons why the shingles vaccine might prevent dementia: First, previous research has suggested that herpes infection may play a role in the development of dementia.
Shingrix dramatically reduces reactivation of the herpes virus that causes chickenpox. 97 percent effective According to the CDC, it is effective in preventing shingles in people between the ages of 50 and 69 who have healthy immune systems.
Experts also hypothesize that there may be something about the special way Shingrix stimulates the body’s immune system against shingles that reduces the chance of dementia.
Hotez, the Texas vaccine expert, said further research showing Shingrix prevents dementia could be “another carrot to make people want to get the shot.”
Only 18.6% of people over the age of 50 in the United States have received at least one dose of the two-dose Shingrix vaccine, according to CDC data from 2021. The CDC also recommends the vaccine for people 19 and older who have weakened immune systems.
GSK scientist Dormitzer said the company was conducting further research to see if there really was a link between the shingles vaccine and dementia prevention.
“We have some very tantalizing leads here,” he said. “At this point, we still have work to do.”
If the connection is further scrutinized, “it would be big news, because right now there’s very little we can do to prevent Alzheimer’s or intervene on behalf of patients,” said William Schaffner, a physician and infectious disease researcher at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Elizabeth Cohen, MPH, is a medical journalist and author of The Empowered Patient: How to Get the Right Diagnosis, Buy the Cheapest Drugs, Beat Your Insurance Company, and Get the Best Medical Care Every Time.
