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The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

economist.com

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Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#111

Post by anarticle »

robot_jesus wrote: post #5

I'm in my 40s with genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's. Been seriously considering the past year or two paying out of pocket for Shingrix. I think it would be ~$500 total for two doses. Sure, I could wait 7 or 8 years until I qualify via insurance, but is that really worth the risk for what is an easily absorbed cost to me? Especially when I have a friend in her late 30s who just went through a very rough bout of…

I feel like we've probably spent more for less! Any interaction with the medical industry for less than 1k feels like a steal to me.

Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#112

Post by xelaboi »

ferongr wrote: post #79
satya71 wrote: post #4

TL;DR Shingles vaccines reduces chances of dementia by 20%. Yet, most countries health systems only look at the upfront cost of ~$300 and don’t recommend for all who could benefit.

Dementia largely affects people on a pension, and not working adults contributing to the pyramid scheme.

This would be a good conspiracy theory if dementia was a short illness.

Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#113

Post by toomuchtodo »

tptacek wrote: post #99
toomuchtodo wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I told my local Walgreens I am immunocompromised and they did not ask for proof (early 40s). https://www.cdc.gov/shingles/hcp/vaccine-considerations/inde...

See this is the information I'm looking for. :)

Happy to help!

Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#114

Post by golem14 »

tptacek wrote: post #110
AnotherGoodName wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But surely you can do a booster shot?

So far as I know there's no standard booster protocol for Shingrix.

That just tells you it hasn’t been fully researched, not that it wouldn’t be useful.

Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#115

Post by reenorap »

robot_jesus wrote: post #5

I'm in my 40s with genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's. Been seriously considering the past year or two paying out of pocket for Shingrix. I think it would be ~$500 total for two doses. Sure, I could wait 7 or 8 years until I qualify via insurance, but is that really worth the risk for what is an easily absorbed cost to me? Especially when I have a friend in her late 30s who just went through a very rough bout of…

This finding of shingles and dementia is likely due to “healthy vaccinee” bias as per the link someone else posted below:

https://youtu.be/qlTnnQytOJ0?is=XJ0c5pWVV6Lg0IMs

As per one of the slides around 7 minutes in, there are many vaccines that show a 20-40% reduction in mortality and dementia.

The talk above basically says that “observational studies” may show great results, like the so-called protective action of the shingles vaccine against dementia. However when brought to a well designed RCT all those benefits don’t actually show up. And the speaker shows later on that the shingles vaccines shows a marked benefit for shingles but nothing for dementia.

Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#117

Post by kurthr »

erelong wrote: post #116

...and there may be damaging side effects while there are probably lots of accessible "natural" demetia remedies that you can do without having to resort to experimental drugs that may cause more problems and cost more

But what if those unstudied accessible "natural" remedies have even more problems? Should we choose to do nothing, only study nothing, or just redefine what "natural" is?

Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#118

Post by dualvariable »

zeckalpha wrote: post #106
robot_jesus wrote: post #5

I'm in my 40s with genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's. Been seriously considering the past year or two paying out of pocket for Shingrix. I think it would be ~$500 total for two doses. Sure, I could wait 7 or 8 years until I qualify via insurance, but is that really worth the risk for what is an easily absorbed cost to me? Especially when I have a friend in her late 30s who just went through a very rough bout of…

My understanding is that they're not sure if the vaccine will last in your system for more than 30 years, and that subsequent doses may be less effective, so getting it early may weaken you later. But I am with you. My personal bet is we'll know more about this by the time that becomes an issue. The earliest cohorts of vaccinated children are approaching their 30s, so we should learn about long term efficacy this dec…

> they're not sure if the vaccine will last in your system for more than 30 years

Vaccines don't really last in your system more than a few days (although some cells get dragged off to the lymph nodes and get harshly interrogated for longer than that). It is the T-cell and B-cell responses that are persistent for years.

> and that subsequent doses may be less effective

They should activate B cells that you already have and produce high-affinity mature antibodies.

Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#119

Post by goosejuice »

andy99 wrote: post #18
robot_jesus wrote: post #5

I'm in my 40s with genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's. Been seriously considering the past year or two paying out of pocket for Shingrix. I think it would be ~$500 total for two doses. Sure, I could wait 7 or 8 years until I qualify via insurance, but is that really worth the risk for what is an easily absorbed cost to me? Especially when I have a friend in her late 30s who just went through a very rough bout of…

I read before that iirc because of waning protection it’s better not to get it too early. It’s not clear to me why you can’t get it twice, but what I read (and it was some online discussion so could be wrong) was that someone had been specifically told by their doctor to wait to 50 as the best spot to get it. I’d like to know more, I’m in my 40s and would be happy to get it now too but not if it was going to be worse…

Hmm but as I understand it, dementia begins in your 30s. It's just that we don't see the signs of it until much later. So if it is protective, waiting doesn't seem wise (on the dementia side of it).

Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#120

Post by robot_jesus »

zeckalpha wrote: post #106
robot_jesus wrote: post #5

I'm in my 40s with genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's. Been seriously considering the past year or two paying out of pocket for Shingrix. I think it would be ~$500 total for two doses. Sure, I could wait 7 or 8 years until I qualify via insurance, but is that really worth the risk for what is an easily absorbed cost to me? Especially when I have a friend in her late 30s who just went through a very rough bout of…

My understanding is that they're not sure if the vaccine will last in your system for more than 30 years, and that subsequent doses may be less effective, so getting it early may weaken you later. But I am with you. My personal bet is we'll know more about this by the time that becomes an issue. The earliest cohorts of vaccinated children are approaching their 30s, so we should learn about long term efficacy this dec…

It's a fair callout, but for me (and increased propensity for Alzheimer's) the calculus is a bit different. Making to to my mid-70s with full mental faculties would easily be worth the tradeoff of an increasing likelihood of shingles at that point. And besides, I would presume I would be able take the vaccine again?
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