Shingrix Linked to Substantial Reduction in Dementia Diagnoses in the Six Years Post-Vaccination
Researchers have raised hopes for delaying dementia after discovering that the recently approved Shingrix shingles vaccine is linked to a substantial reduction in dementia diagnoses within six years of vaccination.
This finding, based on US medical records, suggests that beyond preventing shingles—a painful and sometimes serious condition in elderly people—the vaccine may also delay the onset of dementia, which is the leading cause of death in the UK.
Dr. Maxime Taquet at the University of Oxford, the study’s lead author, said the results support the idea that shingles vaccination might prevent dementia. “If validated in clinical trials, these findings could have significant implications for older adults, health services, and public health,” he stated.
Shingles, caused by the herpes zoster virus, can flare up in people who have previously had chickenpox. When the shingles vaccine Zostavax was first introduced in 2006, some studies hinted at a lower risk of dementia among those who received the shot. The development of a new, more effective shingles vaccine, Shingrix, led to a rapid switch in the US in October 2017, meaning those vaccinated before that date received Zostavax, while those vaccinated afterward received Shingrix.
The Oxford team studied the health records of over 200,000 US citizens vaccinated for shingles, with about half receiving the new vaccine. Over the next six years, the risk of dementia was 17% lower in those who received Shingrix compared with Zostavax. For those who developed dementia, this delay amounted to an extra 164 days, or nearly six months, lived without the condition. The effect was stronger in women (22%) than in men (13%).
The researchers also examined dementia rates in people who received other vaccines. Writing in Nature Medicine, they describe how those given Shingrix had a 23 to 27% lower risk of dementia than people vaccinated against flu, tetanus, diphtheria, or pertussis. One of the study’s authors, Prof. John Todd at Oxford, is a consultant to GSK, the manufacturer of Shingrix, but the researchers emphasized that the study was conducted without any involvement from the pharmaceutical company, which was only informed of the work once it was accepted for publication.
Last year, the NHS made Shingrix available to people turning 65. “The expectation is that if this is indeed a causal effect, then we would see a reduction in dementia in the UK once people start taking up the Shingrix vaccine,” said Taquet.
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