June 30, 2022 – For older adults, getting the annual flu shot might do greater than defend in opposition to the flu. It might additionally scale back the chance of getting Alzheimer’s illness.
In a big examine of vaccinated and unvaccinated adults ages 65 and older, those that acquired not less than one influenza vaccine have been much less possible than unvaccinated friends to get Alzheimer’s over the course of 4 years.
Nevertheless it’s not a one and carried out. The energy of the protecting impact elevated with the variety of years that an individual acquired an annual flu shot, such that the speed of growing Alzheimer’s was lowest in individuals who constantly acquired the flu vaccine yearly.
“Influenza an infection could cause severe well being issues, notably in adults 65 and older,” says Avram Bukhbinder, MD, with UTHealth in Houston.
“Our examine’s findings – that vaccination in opposition to the flu virus may additionally scale back the chance of Alzheimer’s dementia for not less than a couple of years – provides to the already compelling causes to speak together with your physician about getting the flu vaccine yearly,” he says.
This examine “means that flu vaccination could also be helpful for sustaining cognition and reminiscence as we age. That is much more related as we speak within the COVID-19 atmosphere,” says Heather Snyder, PhD, with the Alzheimer’s Affiliation.
Greater than 6 million People are living with Alzheimer’s. By 2050, this quantity is projected to rise to almost 13 million, in response to the Alzheimer’s Affiliation.
The Houston researchers in contrast the chance of Alzheimer’s in roughly 935,000 flu-vaccinated adults and an identical variety of non-vaccinated adults ages 65 and older.
Over the course of 4 years, about 5% of flu-vaccinated adults acquired Alzheimer’s illness, in comparison with round 9% of adults who weren’t vaccinated.
The danger of getting Alzheimer’s illness was 40% decrease within the vaccinated group.
The obvious protecting impact on dementia might not be particular to the flu vaccine. Previous research have discovered ties between different grownup vaccinations – together with these for tetanus, polio, herpes, and pneumonia – and a decrease danger of dementia.
And as extra time passes for the reason that introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine, it will likely be value investigating whether or not an identical affiliation exists between COVID-19 vaccination and a decrease danger of Alzheimer’s illness, the researchers say.
Snyder cautions that it’s “too early to inform if getting flu vaccine, by itself, can scale back danger of Alzheimer’s. Extra analysis is required to grasp the organic mechanisms behind the outcomes on this examine.”
“For instance, it’s attainable that people who find themselves getting vaccinated additionally take higher care of their well being in different methods, and these items add as much as decrease danger of Alzheimer’s and different dementias,” Snyder says. “It is usually attainable that there are points associated to unequal entry and/or vaccine hesitancy and the way this will likely affect the examine inhabitants and the analysis outcomes.”
