Scientists are still scratching their heads. Dementia hits hard, wipes out years, and nobody really knows how to stop it. Or why it starts.
But maybe there is a clue. One tiny thing. A vaccine.
Staying on top of a particular shot might help.
This time it’s the shingles vaccine. Specifically Shingrix. It’s designed to stop shingles. That is its job. But the latest data says it might do something else. It might keep your brain sharper for longer.
We’ve seen hints before. Links between vaccines and dementia risk. But this study adds some weight. Some nuance.
Let’s meet the minds behind the take. Amesh A. Adalja. He’s an infectious disease guy at Johns Hopkins. And Kaleen Hayes. A pharmacoepidemiologist at Brown University.
The numbers don’t lie (mostly)
Here is the setup. Annals of Internal Medicine published the work. The researchers dug through Medicare claims. Electronic health records. The stuff.
Who looked at? Adults. Age 66 plus. They lived in nursing homes between 2017 and early 2023. None had dementia yet. Clean slate.
Out of 509,936 people? Only 8,839 had Shingrix. That’s small.
Then they waited. Four years.
The result? Those who got the shot had a 24% lower risk of a dementia diagnosis.
Think about that.
* 18.8% of the vaccinated group got dementia.
* 24.6% of the unvaccinated group did.
That is a gap.
But wait. Pause.
It is an observational study. We don’t have proof. Causality is not here. Correlation? Yes. Did the needle stop the disease? Maybe. Or maybe healthier people just get shots. Maybe the nursing home folks who got Shingrix were just different to begin with.
The brain and the boil
So why would a shingles shot touch your brain?
Hayes has a theory. Shingles causes inflammation. Inflammation in the brain. Stroke risk goes up. Nerves get damaged.
If you stop the virus? Maybe you stop the fire.
“Reducing activity of the virus… might therefore help to prevent brain damage,” Hayes says.
Older studies looked at Zostavax. The old shot. It is gone now in the U.S. But it showed the same signal. Lower dementia risk.
The researchers wanted to know if the new kid on the block did the same trick. With real data.
Shingrix is not just Zostavax 2.0
Common assumption? New bottle, same drug.
Wrong.
Adalja says these are different beasts. Zostavax was live-attenuated. A weakened live virus. You take the risk of a small infection to build immunity. Old school.
Shingrix is recombinant. No live virus. Just a specific protein.
But there is more. An adjuvant. A booster. Called AS01B.
This little additive kicks the immune system into high gear. Adalja thinks it matters. He suspects this booster might be why Shingrix outperforms the old vaccine. Maybe it stirs up a better, stronger defense. One that happens to help the brain too.
What should you do?
The jury is out on dementia. The data is young. Messy.
But shingles is not debatable.
CDC says get it. If you are over 50. Or if your immune system is down and you’re 19 or older. Get the shot. For your face. For your nerves. For the pain you definitely don’t want.
What if you got Zostavax back in the day?
Get Shingrix.
It is stronger. It works better.
“Individuals should consider getting the newer vaccine,” Hayes advises.
Zostavax isn’t trash. It’s just older. Less effective.
So we shoot the old vaccine to prove a point. We use the new one for the benefit. And maybe. Just maybe.
Your memory stays safe a little longer. Or does it?
We keep waiting.
