There may be additional advantages to being vaccinated against the flu for older adults, according to a recent study. According to the findings of the research, persons over the age of 65 who had at least one influenza vaccination had a significantly lower risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease up to four years later. However, more study will be required to demonstrate the existence of a cause-and-effect relationship and to identify the source of the protective impact seen.
It is believed that more than 5 million people in the United States are now living with Alzheimer’s disease, making it the most prevalent type of dementia. Regular exercise is one of the lifestyle choices that has been shown to lower a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. There are also treatments that can help handle the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. However, there is currently no medication that is known to significantly halt or reverse the development of the disease. On the other hand, some research has pointed to a connection between certain infections and Alzheimer’s, which has led to the hope that avoiding or treating certain infections may decrease the incidence of Alzheimer’s or postpone the beginning of the disease.
Scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston conducted an analysis of medical data in the year 2020 and discovered a correlation between receiving a flu shot and a decreased related risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists were able to examine the results of over a million pairs of persons over the age of 65 across the United States who were either immunized or unprotected from the flu. This time, they went to an even bigger dataset of medical claims in order to conduct their research. The two people were paired up according to criteria such as age and then followed for an average of 46 months.
Lower risk of developing Alzheimer
During the course of the study, 8.5 percent of adults who had not received the vaccine were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or received medication that is frequently used to manage it, in comparison to 5.1 percent of individuals who had received the vaccine; this represents a relative risk that is approximately 40 percent lower. There was also evidence of a cumulative impact, in the sense that those who maintained their vaccinations on a yearly basis over the course of the research had the lowest risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. In this month’s issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, the results were presented in an online format.
Herpesviruses, in particular, have been implicated in a number of studies conducted over the last few years as a potential cause of Alzheimer’s disease because they are thought to be capable of hiding in the brain after an infection suffered early in life. However, the authors of this study hypothesize that the link discovered in their research is not necessarily exclusive to influenza. Instead, we should be focusing more on the connection that exists between the aging of our brain and our immunity.
