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Local epidemiology researcher leads $1.7 million study on shingles vaccine impact on dementia, stroke

A major study at the University of Delaware is underway exploring the wide-ranging effectiveness of the shingles vaccine.
A major study at the University of Delaware is underway exploring the wide-ranging effectiveness of the shingles vaccine.

About a third of Americans will develop shingles and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends anyone over 50 get the vaccine.

At the University of Delaware, a $1.7 million study is underway allowing assistant professor of epidemiology Daniel Harris access to health records for roughly three million nursing home residents for a closer look at the effectiveness of the shingles vaccine in preventing the disease, dementia, and stroke.

Delaware Public Media’s Martin Matheny caught up with Harris this week to learn more about the study and the efficacy of the shingles vaccine.

UD epidemiology researcher Daniel Harris discusses his shingles vaccine study with DPM's Martin Matheny

A University of Delaware researcher is exploring the links between a popular shingles vaccine and a reduced risk of stroke and dementia.

Around 1 million people get shingles each year. Beyond being painful, the disease can also lead to a greater risk of having a stroke or dementia.

"There are a number of pathways that you can get from a shingles infection and shingles reactivation, through to stroke, through to increased dementia," says Daniel Harris, an assistant professor of epidemiology at UD. "We know if someone has a stroke and they sustain some sort of brain damage, this can increase your risk of a very particular type of dementia called vascular dementia, but various other dementias as well.“

Harris is combing through more than 3 million records from nursing homes nationwide to see if by helping prevent shingles, the Shingrix vaccine can also reduce the risk of stroke and dementia.

“There have been a number of observational studies that have found an association between shingles vaccination and a reduced risk of dementia," Harris said. "These studies have a number of methodological weaknesses, though. So one of the key goals of this research is to improve upon those weaknesses.”

Meanwhile, a companion study is doing similar work with VA records.

“These are very large databases, so we're going to try to pool them together to improve the statistical efficiency even more to try to get some better evidence and more conclusive evidence as to the links between shingles, vaccination and dementia," Harris explained.

Harris estimates this research could take over a year to complete, but expects to see preliminary data in the coming months.

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Martin Matheny comes to Delaware Public Media from WUGA in Athens, GA. Over his 12 years there, he served as a classical music host, program director, and the lead reporter on state and local government. In 2022, he took over as WUGA's local host of Morning Edition, where he discovered the joy of waking up very early in the morning.