As if you needed another reason to get your shingles vaccine.
Scientists at Stanford University led the research,publishedin Nature.
We, for instance, do not know about dietary behaviors or physical activity levels.
The shingles vaccine might be even better than we hoped, growing research has found.© Stockpot Videos via Shutterstock
We, therefore, dont know if were merely looking at correlations or actual cause and effect.
In September 2013, a shingles vaccination program officially began in Wales, with a well-defined age eligibility.
The researchers analyzed the health records of 280,000 residents born between 1925 and 1942.
These sorts of association studies cannot definitively prove that the shingles vaccine reduces dementia risk.
But the teams unique approach does sidestep many of the limitations of similar research.
And overall, the case for shingles vaccination as a protective dementia measure has only gotten stronger over time.
We find these protective effects to be large in sizesubstantially larger than those of existing pharmacological tools for dementia.
There are still unanswered aspects about this link.
Researchers arent sure exactly why the vaccine seems to lower dementia risk, for instance.
This might mean that the results seen here are an underestimate of the benefits people can expect today.
Geldsetzer said more concrete data is needed to truly confirm what he and others have been documenting.
Scientists like Geldsetzer will hopefully continue to study these important questions.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
