A shingles vaccine may also help reduce dementia risk

People who receive the live-attenuated shingles vaccine may have a lower likelihood of being diagnosed with dementia compared with those who do not get the shot, researchers report April 2 in Nature.

The findings stem from a Welsh vaccination program. The researchers explored how vaccination against shingles — an illness that develops when the virus causing chicken pox reactivates later in life — might influence dementia risk, finding a more prominent effect in women than in men.

Shingles can lead to painful rashes and serious complications. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults 50 and older receive two doses of the recombinant shingles vaccine, which includes an antigen that elicits an immune response.