The elderly and elderly with severe shingles have up to 7 times higher risk of early dementia
Apr 23, 2025
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The Dutch and Italian joint researchers recently published the findings in the international journal 『The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease』.
From January 2001 to December 2023, the researchers conducted a study of 132,986 people over the age of 50 living in Lombardy, Italy.
Of these, 12,088 had a history of hospitalization after being diagnosed with shingles.
As a result of a one-year follow-up, the risk of early dementia increased 2.43 times in the shingles group. After 10 years, the risk of dementia in the shingles group was 22% higher than in the control group in the general population group.
In particular, the elderly aged 50 to 65 who were hospitalized with severe shingles had a 7.54 times higher risk of dementia. This is younger than the age of typical dementia patients, the researchers explained.
The researchers observed that the risk of dementia in hospitalized patients with shingles increased overall for up to 23 years"We support improving vaccination public health strategies and expanding vaccination recommendations to young people."
Meanwhile, shingles are a viral infection that causes a rash accompanied by pain and is caused by varicella-zoster. After contracting chickenpox as a child, the virus lurks in nerve cells and becomes reactivated when you get older or your immune system weakens, causing shingles.
According to a recently published study by Stanford University in the United States, the elderly who received the shingles vaccine had a 20% lower risk of developing dementia than those who were not vaccinated.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
