Have you had, or are you likely to have the opportunity for, a shingles vaccine? If so, we have some news that might make getting stabbed in the arm a little more appealing.
There’s an increasing body of evidence to suggest that a common shingles vaccination, known as Shingrix, may reduce the the risk of dementia by as much as 51%.
Emily Rayens, a postdoctoral fellow at the Kaiser Permanente southern California department of research and evaluation, cited the figure in a recent study of Shingrix-vaccinated individuals – and that’s regardless of lifestyle and socioeconomic factors.
Rayens said: “Dementia is complex, and there are likely many contributing factors to its onset and progression.” However, she has said that there is “strong evidence for the relationship between shingles vaccines and a lower risk of dementia.”
There’s also growing evidence that the same vaccine could lower the risk of stroke and heart attack. Overall, this all sounds pretty positive; after all, we all know at least one person who’s been affected by dementia. If you add heart attack and stroke to the mix, it becomes a lot more!
A link between viruses and dementia
Dr Pascal Geldsetzer, assistant professor of medicine at Stanford University and co-author of several studies investigating the link, has commented that there are two potential links worth investigating that could explain the association.
The first one is that there’s a growing body of evidence telling us that viruses ‘persist’ and reactivate in our bodies, like varicella-zoster, are likely to be responsible for the development of dementia.
According to Geldsetzer: “The hypothesis is that this is a kind of chronic stressor to the immune system that may drive immune ageing or inflammatory pathways – key processes in chronic diseases, including dementia.”
Are immune-system mechanisms involved?
The other link is exploring whether the immune-system effects of vaccination may do more than we initially thought they did, and help against other diseases, too.
Finding out more and going down this route will require a clinical trial to help better comprehend the mechanisms involved and look at cause and effect. The good news is, Geldsetzer is currently raising the funds for this very trial.
Geldsetzer has said: “We potentially have a very inexpensive, readily scalable, readily available intervention that could have large effects for dementia prevention or potentially even treatment.”
A new hope against dementia
This could be the way forward to help reduce the chances of developing dementia in later life – it at least sounds very promising. And, I also know someone who’s just recently had the vaccine in question!
I spoke to In Pure Spirit founder and human pincushion Andrew Girdwood to see what he had to say when finding out about this news:
I’m absolutely delighted. You get a vaccine to protect yourself against one specific, painful condition, so discovering it might also come with a massive secondary benefit like a 51% reduction in dementia risk feels like an incredible win. It turns a smart health choice into an even bigger investment in my long-term future.
Yeah. I’ve got to say, I’m a little jealous. The shingles vaccination is available privately, but you have to be at least 50 to go that route. Still, when it comes time for me to get the vaccine, I 100% will!
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