A vaccination to prevent horribly painful shingles may offer an extra benefit: New research suggests it might lower the risk of dementia, too.

G etting vaccinated for the viral illness shingles, which causes a painful rash, could potentially be the next best tool in preventing dementia, a new study published in Nature fi

Several previous studies have suggested that shingles vaccinations might reduce dementia risk, but most could not exclude the possibility that people who get vaccinated might have other dementia-protective characteristics, like healthier lifestyles, better diets or more years of education.

Researchers at Stanford University found evidence that suggests the shingles vaccine lowers the risk of developing dementia. Evidence from the study suggested the vaccine cut the risk of developing dementia over the next seven years by 20%.

Shingles, a viral infection that produces a painful rash, is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox, varicella-zoster.

A vaccination to prevent horribly painful shingles may offer an extra benefit: New research suggests it might lower the risk of dementia, too

And over the past couple of years, observational studies have suggested that the vaccine against shingles may have a protective effect. But it's extremely difficult to do a clinical trial given that the onset of dementia may happen decades after most people first receive the shingles vaccine.

A new study suggests that getting vaccinated against shingles not only lowers the risk of infection but may also offer some protection against dementia. The new research found that people who got the original shingles vaccine were 20% less likely to develop dementia of any type than those who were not vaccinated.

Elderly individuals inoculated with a shingles vaccine were 20% less likely to eventually receive a dementia diagnosis in the following seven years, a new study argues. The study authors based that assessment after examining the health records of about 282,