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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

#171

Post by warshinder »

robot_jesus wrote: post #120
zeckalpha wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

They have donanimab now, and apoe4 testing may qualify you if you have any prodromal (easily faked frankly) symptoms and a decent insurer.

Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#172

Post by subscribed »

Integer wrote: post #134
subscribed wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like the GP is in the UK. I tried to go private (also not 50), but everyone just refused. Pharmacy, GP, private GP. Currently I'm arranging it in the third country because WTAF. (UK becoming the dirtiest and sickest country of Europe one more time)

Weird, I went to a travel vaccination clinic in London and got it no questions asked (the nurse was even familiar with the dementia research). Try calling privatemedicalclinic.com ?

Thanks a lot!

Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#174

Post by leereeves »

gdudeman wrote: post #163

If you haven't seen the chart from the UK study, I highly recommend checking it out: https://erictopol.substack.com/p/the-shingles-vaccine-and-re... When the vaccine came out in the UK, they included a hard age cutoff: Above a certain age, you weren't eligible. Below that age, you were eligible. They looked at the probability of a dementia diagnosis over the 7 years after the vaccine was introduced. People who were b…

I think I'm failing to understand your subtext. Obviously older people have higher rates of dementia. A study reporting that doesn't tell us anything about the effect of the vaccine.

Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#175

Post by gdudeman »

leereeves wrote: post #174
gdudeman wrote: post #163

If you haven't seen the chart from the UK study, I highly recommend checking it out: https://erictopol.substack.com/p/the-shingles-vaccine-and-re... When the vaccine came out in the UK, they included a hard age cutoff: Above a certain age, you weren't eligible. Below that age, you were eligible. They looked at the probability of a dementia diagnosis over the 7 years after the vaccine was introduced. People who were b…

I think I'm failing to understand your subtext. Obviously older people have higher rates of dementia. A study reporting that doesn't tell us anything about the effect of the vaccine.

Sorry - the older group has higher rates of dementia than the younger group when they reach the same age - so when they reach 75, they're more likely to have dementia.

Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#176

Post by emceestork »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #156
scrollop wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were a few studies around 2022 showing the influenza vaccines and pneumoccocal vaccines reduce alzheimers (influenza by up to a whopping 40%!). I tell me patients this to increase uptake, so we can reduce alzheimer's prevalence. (I'm a doctor)

Do you have a link to these studies? I ask because, as another commenter mentioned, I think it would be very difficult to tease out cause and effect and I think the "healthy vaccinee" hypothesis could easily explain why so often you see the association between any vaccine (just here we have shingles, influenza and pneumococcal) and Alzheimer's risk reduction. To be clear, I would get those vaccines regardless for the…

https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000214782

edit: Sorry this is the follow up study but the 40% study is linked within

Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#177

Post by leereeves »

gdudeman wrote: post #175
leereeves wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I'm failing to understand your subtext. Obviously older people have higher rates of dementia. A study reporting that doesn't tell us anything about the effect of the vaccine.

Sorry - the older group has higher rates of dementia than the younger group when they reach the same age - so when they reach 75, they're more likely to have dementia.

I see what you mean, there's a clear gap in the fitted (regression) lines, suggesting the trend of dementia with age is different in the two groups.

But I wonder if that's just a statistical artifact. The overall trend looks the same in both groups if you ignore a couple points (ages) on either side of introducing the vaccine.

A single line appears to fit all the points well, except two points on either side of the divide.

Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#178

Post by greg7mdp »

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…

Got the shingrix vaccine for free at my county health center, even though it was not covered by my insurance. Worth checking.

Re: The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

#180

Post by jyounker »

pasc1878 wrote: post #109
subscribed wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like the GP is in the UK. I tried to go private (also not 50), but everyone just refused. Pharmacy, GP, private GP. Currently I'm arranging it in the third country because WTAF. (UK becoming the dirtiest and sickest country of Europe one more time)

The age for shingles vaccine in the UK under the NHS (so free) is 65. Of course I got shingles when I was 64. Caught early and got anti-virals and had no lasting effects.

I'm glad you got lucky. I got it identified and treated with antivirals early (first 12 hours), a friend of mine turned out to be a research dermatologist who took over treatment in the first 36 hours, and still I ended up with long term effects. (Apparently if I'd gone another 12 hours without significant response, he would have put me on intravenous antivirals.)

I'm glad you didn't have any lasting effects.

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