The shingles vaccine may help prevent dementia

[thewayne]

The numbers are very indicative in multiple studies, but the mechanism is unclear.

The current vaccine is two-fold. There's the direct chicken pox vaccine to suppress that particular disease. A second adjuvant is designed to stimulate the immune system to provide a vigorous response if the chicken pox reactivates. It's believed that this adjuvant is acting as a strong anti-inflammatory and this might be reducing people contracting dementia.

The papers cited, from across several countries, all show interesting numbers. I'd like to see a meta-study to try to establish stronger numbers. Interestingly, women show the most benefit from this effect, but also are more likely to contract shingles and are more likely to develop dementia.

I saw another article recently that talked about people who get cancer rarely develop dementia, though I didn't dig into that one as I've had several relatives and friends with both, and it hit a little too close to home.

As always, no vaccine is absolute proof against a disease, these studies show a 5-20%+ reduction in the chance of developing dementia, not absolute resistance. Still, that's encouraging, and if the mechanism can be understood, it could lead to the development of a vaccine to further improve resistance against dementia.

https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/02/could-a-vaccine-prevent-dementia-shingles-shot-data-only-getting-stronger/

Comments

[motodraconis]

Yes, I heard about that too, and I was especially pleased as I have recently paid for the shingles vaccine and it was not cheap, but it was worth shelling out the money to head off getting shingles one day (which can leave permanent nerve damage and pain). Protection against dementia is a bonus.

There are also reports that HRT protects against dementia too.

[disneydream06]

I accept that percentage. :)
Got my shots a couple of years back.
WORST vaccinations I have ever got. LOL........
Hugs, Jon

[moonhare]

Agreed- OUCH!

[disneydream06]

YAY I am not the only one who thought that.
They both hit me kind of hard.
After the second I thought WOW...
Only to realize, it was partly the shot and partly that I had caught Covid. lol... :o

[thewayne]

Oh, man!  That sucks!

[disneydream06]

It hit me while I was sitting with a patient at work.
Started getting the chills and could not warm up.
On the good side, I was still wearing masks at work, so I shouldn't have been sharing it with anybody.
But after I got the results I called that station I was on to let them know. :o

[thewayne]

I didn't have a problem with the first, but as I recall the second one hurt for a few days.

[moonhare]

My brother’s description of how it felt to have gotten shingles prompted me to get the shot(s)!

I guess he who shall not be named, aka asshole, should have taken the jab!

[kaishin108]

One of my older friends and yoga students got a really bad case of shingles years ago. Months after that she got dementia. It was odd. Some infections seem to bring it on. like UTIs in older people. That is only what I have observed, not scientific.

[thewayne]

Yeah, kind of in the realm of causation vs correlation.  Maybe there was a relationship, maybe the dementia was already building and just tipped over into something more visible, or possibly she had a micro-stroke that caused the dementia to leap to the forefront.  Very hard to say.  I remember reading an MRI report on my dad about a decade ago reporting on 'multiple micro-strokes', and there was no evidence of impairment that I could see about him.  My brother swore he had dementia, he possibly had Sundowners at the end, I never saw it though, but the last time I saw him before his death was a couple of weeks and he wasn't in good shape with his cancers.

[kaishin108]

What I noticed with her and with my neighbor (age 69) who just recovered from Shingles is that it really affect their nervous systems. Right no proof but it sure didn't help prevent the one woman's decline.

[dewline]

Good thing I got vaccinated anyway, then.

If there's a better one on the way, let me know when it's ready and I'll get that too!

[halfshellvenus]

Well, this could help a lot of people!

But not me. Because I wound up getting the chickenpox vaccine as an adult. I apparently never had the disease as a child-- we discovered that when my younger sister got it, which was just after a vaccine became available for it. In getting the chickenpox vaccine, I can't get the shingles one as that might actually cause shingles.

On the plus side, I'm already prevented from getting shingles due to the other vaccine. But I can't benefit from any beneficial shingles vaccine side-effects. \o?

[arlie]

Of course it might be that the benefit of the vaccine is simply not getting shingles.

Of course I'm imagining the possibility of what I'll call sub-clinical shingles - doesn't make you sick enough to see your doctor; does set you up for increased dementia risk.

Also, this is just a thought experiment, probably compatible with what I'd read about the shingles/dementia link research so far, which (still) doesn't include the ars technica article cited by the OP.

[pondhopper]

I read a similar article and I don't think the studies/ research has been ample enough yet, as you say. Of course it's possible but more science is warranted. It would be a very good thing if proven!

[thewayne]

Unfortunately it's one of those things where you're not going to be able to do a controlled blind placebo study, just general population studies where people have or have not received the vaccine.  Hopefully someone is doing a meta-study to see of all of these papers to tease out the statistics to see if there's anything there.

[ndrosen]

I got the shingles vaccine (two shots, I think) some years back; I don’t remember whether I had much of a reaction to the injections. So far, at least, I have been spared from getting shingles, and I don’t think I’m sinking into dementia.

[silveradept]

That vaccine is definitely on my radar for when I'm of age to have it recommended to me.

Hopefully, they can figure out the why for this interesting boost against potential dementia that it confers, and make it happen as a standalone treatment, rather than having to come with something that not everyone needs.

[thewayne]

Get it as early as possible, you definitely don't want to get shingles!  (Not that I've had it, but I've had family that did, and it is extremely unpleasant!)