Could one treatment protect against some of the most feared consequences of aging?
A vaccine that every adult over 50 should be getting to protect against a common virus may have another benefit: protecting the brain and heart from degeneration and deadly complications.
One study from Brown University showed the shot lowered the risk of dementia by 24% in older adults, compared with those who didn’t take it.
Another study showed the shot decreased risk of heart disease, heart failure and atrial fibrillation, or an irregular heart rhythm, and in men, stroke.
The key? The shingles vaccine.
One in three people in the US will develop shingles in their lifetime — and risk increases with age. That’s why the CDC recommends that every healthy adult over 50 get both doses, about six months apart.
Though immunity from the shot does wane over time, the decline is very gradual. The CDC says that currently, there’s no need to get a booster after the two-shot series.
Lowering dementia risk
An enormous study from Brown University looked at 500,000 adults aged 66 and up who were being admitted to nursing facilities. They compared those who had received the shingles vaccine, aka RZV or Shingrix, with those who had not.
They found that people who had at least one of the two doses of the vaccine were much less likely to develop dementia. Dementia developed in 18.8% of vaccinated participants, while it developed in 24.6% of unvaccinated participants.
“This translates to about one in 17 dementia cases potentially being prevented,” author Kaley Hayes told Science Daily.
She said that the vaccine, which was made to prevent thepainful, blistering rash caused by shingles — and a complication called PHN that causes severe nerve pain and even vision loss — appears to also have “neuroprotective benefits.”
“Our cognition is so tied to our overall health and what happens to us physically,” Hayes said. “It’s really amazing to see that something that’s supposed to prevent a physical ailment can also help keep our brain healthy, too.”
Lowering cardiovascular events like heart failure and stroke
One of the key parts of the new research relies on understanding that there have been two shingles vaccines over the last 20 years.
The old one, Zostavax, used a live virus and was only 50-65% effective. Shingrix doesn’t use a live virus and is the only one available in the US as of 2020. It is much more effective — more than 90%.
Rather than compare people who took any vaccine to people who were unvaccinated, researchers from Oxford University wanted to compare more similar populations. They compared people who were all vaccinated, just with different shots — the old one vs. the new one.
They found that the new Shingrix shot lowered the risk of heart problems by 9% over seven years, compared with the old Zostavax vaccine.
The new vaccine was also associated with a 10% less risk of ischemic heart disease (a type of heart disease where narrowed arteries restrict flow to the heart) and a 12% less risk of heart failure.
In men, the new vaccine was associated with a 12% less risk of ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke, caused by a blocked blood vessel.
In a previous study published earlier this year, researchers found that the vaccine lowered the risk of any major heart event by 46%, compared with those who were unvaccinated.
The authors wrote that the vaccine could cause immune changes and changes to the endothelial cells, or the lining of the heart and blood vessels, which may help protect the heart.
