Can the Flu Vaccine Help Keep Older Minds Sharp?
June 30, 2022 – For older adults, getting the annual flu shot might do greater than shield in opposition to the flu. It might additionally cut back the danger of getting Alzheimer’s illness.
In a big research of vaccinated and unvaccinated adults ages 65 and older, those that acquired at the very least one influenza vaccine had been much less doubtless than unvaccinated friends to get Alzheimer’s over the course of 4 years.
Nevertheless it’s not a one and achieved. The power of the protecting impact elevated with the variety of years that an individual acquired an annual flu shot, such that the speed of creating Alzheimer’s was lowest in individuals who constantly received the flu vaccine yearly.
“Influenza an infection may cause severe well being problems, notably in adults 65 and older,” says Avram Bukhbinder, MD, with UTHealth in Houston.
“Our research’s findings – that vaccination in opposition to the flu virus might also cut back the danger of Alzheimer’s dementia for at the very least a number of years – provides to the already compelling causes to speak along with your physician about getting the flu vaccine yearly,” he says.
This research “means that flu vaccination could also be beneficial for sustaining cognition and reminiscence as we age. That is much more related at this time within the COVID-19 atmosphere,” says Heather Snyder, PhD, with the Alzheimer’s Affiliation.
Greater than 6 million Individuals are living with Alzheimer’s. By 2050, this quantity is projected to rise to almost 13 million, in line with the Alzheimer’s Affiliation.
The Houston researchers in contrast the danger 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 received 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, will probably 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 cut back danger of Alzheimer’s. Extra analysis is required to grasp the organic mechanisms behind the outcomes on this research.”
“For instance, it’s attainable that people who find themselves getting vaccinated additionally take higher care of their well being in different methods, and this stuff add as much as decrease danger of Alzheimer’s and different dementias,” Snyder says. “It’s also attainable that there are points associated to unequal entry and/or vaccine hesitancy and the way this will likely affect the research inhabitants and the analysis outcomes.”
