United States: The health authorities confirm the effectiveness of the shingles vaccine against cognitive decline during aging.
More about the news
During seven years of follow-up testing, researchers found that shingles vaccinations decreased dementia diagnosis probabilities in elderly patients by 20%.
A Wednesday publication in Nature Journal expands scientific knowledge about the various elements that determine brain health for seniors.
According to the lead researcher, Dr. Pascal Geldsetzer of Stanford University, “It’s a very robust finding,” AP News reported.
And “women seem to benefit more,” important as they’re at higher risk of dementia, Geldsetzer noted.
Scientists observed Welsh participants above 80 years who took part in the global introduction of shingles vaccination ten years earlier.
Americans who reach age 50 and beyond should now opt for the more successful shingles vaccine, which outperforms the older version.
Research findings provide an additional motive for people to get vaccinated, according to Dr. Maria Nagel, who studies viruses that enter the nervous system at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
Furthermore, the virus “is a risk for dementia, and now we have an intervention that can decrease the risk,” as Nagel stated.
With Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia on the rise in an aging population, “the implications of the study are profound,” as per Dr. Anupam Jena, who is a Harvard physician and health economist.
About Shingles
Individuals born before 1980 are expected to sustain the chickenpox virus throughout their lifetime since they experienced the infection.
Shingles develop after chickenpox hides in nerves and becomes active when illness or age weakens the immune system and creates blister-like sores on one side of the body, which stay for weeks.
Statistical data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that shingles will affect one-third of all Americans.
Although recovery from shingles occurs in most cases, it may result in serious medical complications.
Shingles infection leads to vision loss in the affected eyes. On average, between 20% and 30% of shingles patients experience severe nerve pain, which emerges after their skin rash has healed.