A new study found that vaccination against shingles significantly reduces the risk of developing dementia by 20% over seven years. This offers strong evidence that preventing certain viral infections can have lasting positive effects on brain health. Dr. Paul Harrison from Oxford emphasized the importance of these findings, particularly given the lack of effective treatments for dementia. Although it's unclear if the vaccine's protective effects last beyond seven years, the results highlight the shingles vaccine's potential role in a broader strategy to prevent cognitive decline.
The study, published in the journal Nature, found that people who received the shingles vaccine were 20 percent less likely to develop dementia in the seven years afterward than those who were not vaccinated.
Dr. Paul Harrison stated that reducing the risk of dementia by 20 percent is significant in a public health context, given the limited options to slow dementia's onset.
Shingles cases stem from the varicella-zoster virus, which can lie dormant and reactivate as shingles as immune systems weaken with age.
With few effective treatments available to prevent dementia, shingles vaccines seem to provide some of the strongest protective effects currently known.
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