AUSTRALIAN data has confirmed Welsh research (PD 03 Apr) finding that the herpes zoster (HZ) vaccine can reduce the risk of developing dementia.
In a similar study scenario, Australians who turned 80 after 01 Nov 2016 were eligible for free shingles vaccination, whereas those who turned 80 before this date were not, allowing researchers to compare two groups of people of similar age - one with access to the free vaccines, and the other without.
The study found that having access to the free vaccine decreased the likelihood of receiving a new dementia diagnosis during 7.4 years of follow-up by 1.8%.
The authors also looked at 15 other common conditions, including cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal conditions and diabetes, and found the vaccine made no significant difference.
Similarly, they found no difference between the two groups in uptake of other preventative health services (vaccinations and screening).
"In conjunction with findings from a similar quasi-experiment in Wales, the results of our study suggest that HZ vaccination is a low-cost, high-reward intervention to reduce the burden of dementia," wrote the authors.
They called for investment into further research in this area, including clinical trials, replication in other settings, populations and health systems, and mechanistic research - see the paper HERE.
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