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Newer shingles vaccine linked to lower heart disease risk, ‘natural experiment’ shows
Developing
The newer shingles vaccine has been turning heads since its link to lower dementia rates was reported two years ago. The researchers found their solution in a natural experiment, taking the opportunity to compare similar groups of vaccinated people on either side of the date in October 2017 when Shingrix was approved in the U.S., displacing Zostavax, the live vaccine administered before then.
“Ischemic heart disease and vascular diseases tend to be linked to an inflammatory response,” said study co-author Betty Raman, associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at Oxford. Now the same research team behind that observation has found an association between receiving the Shingrix shot and a reduced risk of heart disease.
“If confirmed, Shingrix could prevent hundreds of thousands of cardiovascular events in the USA alone, and may be the first vaccine that protects the heart and the brain,” Taquet said. “Although the benefits are relatively small on an individual basis, millions of people receive shingles vaccination, meaning that even a small cardiovascular benefit could translate into a substantial number of cardiovascular events prevented at a population level,” Mark Russell, clinical senior lecturer and consultant rheumatologist of King’s College London, said in a statement shared by the Science Media Centre.
“The recombinant vaccine may induce trained immunity,” said study co-author Fabiana Corsi-Zuelli, a research fellow in Psychiatry at Oxford. And one of them is underway,” co-author Maxime Taquet, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford, said at a media briefing.
Kaleen Hayes, associate director of pharmacoepidemiology at Brown University School of Public Health, said she was excited to see the results. The study authors said they can only speculate on how Shingrix exerts this protection, because they don’t know the exact mechanism.
The authors, while acknowledging limits of the study, said the results were encouraging.
What's confirmed
What's still developing
- The newer shingles vaccine has been turning heads since its link to lower dementia rates was reported two years ago .
- Now the same research team behind that observation has found an association between receiving the Shingrix shot and a reduced risk of heart disease.
- The researchers found their solution in a natural experiment, taking the opportunity to compare similar groups of vaccinated people on either side of the date in October 2017 when Shingrix was approved in the U.S.,…
- “Although the benefits are relatively small on an individual basis, millions of people receive shingles vaccination, meaning that even a small cardiovascular benefit could translate into a substantial number of…
- The authors, while acknowledging limits of the study, said the results were encouraging.
- And one of them is underway,” co-author Maxime Taquet, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford, said at a media briefing.
- “If confirmed, Shingrix could prevent hundreds of thousands of cardiovascular events in the USA alone, and may be the first vaccine that protects the heart and the brain,” Taquet said.
- Kaleen Hayes, associate director of pharmacoepidemiology at Brown University School of Public Health, said she was excited to see the results.
Sources
- STAT News — source text fetched for this pass link