Age UK says that a study run by the International Longevity Centre showed that “1 in 3 adults over the age of 50 will get shingles in their lifetime.”
Despite that, only 8% of older European adults are vaccinated against it.
Most people don’t have enough knowledge about the disease, they say (I didn’t even know that there was a shingles vaccine available ― the NHS offers it to “all adults turning 65, those aged 70 to 79 and those aged 50 and over with a severely weakened immune system”).
Shingles, which can lead to a painful rash and, in extreme cases, blindness or hearing loss, is a viral infection that comes from the same virus behind chickenpox.
Some researchers have also linked shingles infections to increased dementia risk, though they haven’t shown it causes dementia.
What’s the connection?
The study by Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital was published in Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy.
The team looked at data from three large studies of men and women; it involved 149,327 participants who filled in health surveys every two years. Both shingles and dementia were on the surveys.
Researchers found that participants with a history of shingles were 20% more likely to experience something called subjective cognitive decline.
Scientists aren’t sure exactly why the link seems to exist, but it seems to be stronger among men who carry the APOE4 gene which has been linked to a higher risk of dementia.
The researchers also think shingles could lead to “neuroinflammation, cerebral vasculopathy, direct neuronal damage, and the activation of other herpesviruses like HSV-1,” which may increase the risk of dementia.
“We’re evaluating to see if we can identify risk factors that could be modified to help reduce people’s risk of developing shingles,” the paper’s senior author Sharon Curhan told The Harvard Gazette.
“We also want to study whether the shingles vaccine can help reduce the risk of adverse health outcomes from shingles, such as cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline.”
Does that mean I’ll definitely get dementia if I’ve had shingles?
That’s not what the paper says ― it’s only established a link of about 20% higher risk, and it doesn’t know exactly how the association works.
But Dr Curham said: “Given the growing number of Americans at risk for this painful and often disabling disease and the availability of a very effective vaccine, shingles vaccination could provide a valuable opportunity to reduce the burden of shingles and possibly reduce the burden of subsequent cognitive decline.”
Even if it doesn’t cause dementia, Age UK says “knowledge of this preventable disease is lacking.”
It may be worth getting a shingles vaccine to prevent the little-known complications of the condition, dementia or not.
Age UK adds that the symptoms include:
- a tingling, burning or painful feeling on an area of skin
- a headache and generally feeling unwell
- a rash will usually occur a few days later.