The shingles vaccine may reduce the risk of dementia

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jul 12, 2026, 10:50 PM UTC

sarchertech wrote: post #81

hereme888 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not common knowledge, but should be in this day and age. For example, someone who worked in daycare and often got sick with the flu or similar, has a higher risk of dementia (statistically-speaking). When I learned it, it was in the context of the influenza and similar common viruses. It's actually more nuanced than that. If you want to read more: https://www.openevidence.com/ask/bccc3cc2-e15d-4fb0-a0c5-16f...

As far as I know you're overstating what is known. There was a study that showed that people who had severe influenza (they were hospitalized) were 3 times more likely to develop dementia. And there are mouse models that show that frequency respiratory virus infections can increase may contribute to brain aging (in mice). >someone who worked in daycare and often got sick with the flu or similar, has a higher risk of…

Post by hereme888 » Sun, Jul 12, 2026, 10:52 PM UTC

sarchertech wrote: post #81

hereme888 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not common knowledge, but should be in this day and age. For example, someone who worked in daycare and often got sick with the flu or similar, has a higher risk of dementia (statistically-speaking). When I learned it, it was in the context of the influenza and similar common viruses. It's actually more nuanced than that. If you want to read more: https://www.openevidence.com/ask/bccc3cc2-e15d-4fb0-a0c5-16f...

As far as I know you're overstating what is known. There was a study that showed that people who had severe influenza (they were hospitalized) were 3 times more likely to develop dementia. And there are mouse models that show that frequency respiratory virus infections can increase may contribute to brain aging (in mice). >someone who worked in daycare and often got sick with the flu or similar, has a higher risk of…

Post by selimthegrim » Sun, Jul 12, 2026, 10:54 PM UTC

jliptzin wrote: post #76

syntaxing wrote: post #23

I know quite a few people who got shingles in their early 20s. One of their doctors didn’t believe she had shingles until the blisters formed. The vaccine can definitely help those younger than 50, dementia benefits or not. Some of them have permanent nerve damage after getting shingles.

My brother had it when he was 17

Post by Nition » Sun, Jul 12, 2026, 11:28 PM UTC

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…

Post by asdff » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 12:52 AM UTC

teravor wrote: post #129

modeless wrote: post #101

Unfortunately this is a spurious finding. See this presentation: https://youtu.be/qlTnnQytOJ0 The mechanism is that people with the shingles vaccine are less likely to visit the hospital (because they don't get shingles). Because they have fewer hospital visits they are less likely to receive an incidental diagnosis of dementia from a hospital.

are there that many instances of mild dementia where a lack of diagnosis remains a lack?