Dementia affects millions of people worldwide, and researchers continue to search for ways to reduce the risk of the disease.
A new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine has therefore attracted significant attention, according to Medical News Today.
Researchers examined health data from older adults living in nursing homes and long-term care facilities to determine whether various healthcare interventions could influence brain health.
More than 500,000 older adults
The research team from Brown University analyzed data from more than 500,000 Americans aged 66 and older.
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The participants lived in more than 5,500 long-term care facilities between 2017 and 2022.
The researchers compared individuals who had received at least one dose of the shingles vaccine Shingrix with similar individuals who had not been vaccinated.
Even after accounting for differences in age, health status, and other factors, the researchers continued to observe a difference between the two groups.
Lower risk of dementia
Among vaccinated individuals, 18.8 percent developed dementia, compared with 24.6 percent of those who were unvaccinated.
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According to the study, this corresponds to a relative reduction in risk of 24 percent.
The researchers do not conclude that the vaccine directly prevents dementia, and because this was an observational study, other factors may also have influenced the results.
However, the findings support previous research suggesting that vaccination against shingles may be associated with a lower risk of dementia among older adults.
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