Researchers from the University of Oxford have revealed that GSK’s new recombinant shingles vaccine, Shingrix, could reduce the risk of dementia compared to Merck & Co’s – known as MSD outside the US and Canada – shingles vaccine, Zostavax.
The study was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s (NIHR) Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre and published in Nature Medicine.
Shingles, a common but serious condition caused by the herpes zoster virus, varicella-zoster virus (VZV), affects up to one in three people in their lifetime, according to a 2023 global survey published by GSK.
Utilising the US TriNetx electronic health records network, researchers compared the risk of dementia in more than 200,000 people six years following either Shingrix or Zostavax vaccination, as well as in those who had received vaccines against other infections including flu, tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis.
Results showed that the Shingrix vaccine was more protective against dementia compared to Zostavax, as well as being more protective than vaccines against other infections.
In total, the team found a 17% reduction in dementia diagnoses in the six years after the new recombinant shingles vaccination, totalling around 164 or more additional days lived without dementia, compared to Zostavax and up to 27% less than with other vaccines.
Researchers intend to conduct further research before suggesting Shingrix to identify how and why, as well as whether it could have additional value in terms of protection against dementia.
John Todd, professor of precision medicine, University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Medicine, suggested that this happens because the VZV infection “might increase the risk of dementia” or because chemicals in the vaccine “might have separate beneficial effects on brain health”.
Affecting more than 944,000 people in the UK, dementia is a neurodegenerative condition that affects the ability to remember, think or make decisions in everyday life, and around a third of those living with the disease in England do not have a diagnosis, according to new data published by NHS England.
Dr Maxime Taquet, NIHR academic clinical lecturer, department of psychiatry, University of Oxford, who led the study, commented: “If validated in clinical trials, these findings could have significant implications for older adults, health services and public health.”