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The effect of shingles vaccination at different stages of the dementia disease course

Using natural experiments, we have previously reported that live-attenuated herpes zoster (HZ) vaccination appears to have prevented or delayed dementia diagnoses in both Wales and Australia. Here, we find that HZ vaccination also reduces mild cognitive impairment diagnoses and, among patients livin...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xie, Min (Author) , Eyting, Markus (Author) , Bommer, Christian (Author) , Ahmed, Haroon (Author) , Geldsetzer, Pascal (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: 11 December 2025
In: Cell
Year: 2025, Volume: 188, Issue: 25, Pages: 7049-7064.e20
ISSN:1097-4172
DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2025.11.007
Online Access:Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.11.007
Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867425012565
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Author Notes:Min Xie, Markus Eyting, Christian Bommer, Haroon Ahmed, and Pascal Geldsetzer
Description
Summary:Using natural experiments, we have previously reported that live-attenuated herpes zoster (HZ) vaccination appears to have prevented or delayed dementia diagnoses in both Wales and Australia. Here, we find that HZ vaccination also reduces mild cognitive impairment diagnoses and, among patients living with dementia, deaths due to dementia. Exploratory analyses suggest that the effects are not driven by a specific dementia type. Our approach takes advantage of the fact that individuals who had their eightieth birthday just after the start date of the HZ vaccination program in Wales were eligible for the vaccine for 1 year, whereas those who had their eightieth birthday just before were ineligible and remained ineligible for life. The key strength of our natural experiments is that these comparison groups should be similar in all characteristics except for a minute difference in age. Our findings suggest that live-attenuated HZ vaccination prevents or delays mild cognitive impairment and dementia and slows the disease course among those already living with dementia.
Item Description:Online verfügbar: 2. Dezember 2025, Artikelversion: 11. Dezember 2025
Gesehen am 10.02.2026
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:1097-4172
DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2025.11.007

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