Can the Flu Vaccine Help Keep Older Minds Sharp?

June 30, 2022 – For older adults, getting the annual flu shot could do greater than defend towards the flu. It might also scale back the danger of getting Alzheimer’s illness.

In a big research of vaccinated and unvaccinated adults ages 65 and older, those that obtained at the least one influenza vaccine have been much less doubtless than unvaccinated friends to get Alzheimer’s over the course of 4 years.

But it’s not a one and performed. The energy of the protecting impact elevated with the variety of years that an individual obtained an annual flu shot, such that the speed of creating Alzheimer’s was lowest in individuals who persistently received the flu vaccine yearly.

“Influenza an infection could cause severe well being issues, significantly in adults 65 and older,” says Avram Bukhbinder, MD, with UTHealth in Houston.

“Our research’s findings – that vaccination towards the flu virus might also scale back the danger of Alzheimer’s dementia for at the least just a few 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 invaluable for sustaining cognition and reminiscence as we age. This is much more related at this time within the COVID-19 atmosphere,” says Heather Snyder, PhD, with the Alzheimer’s Association.

More than 6 million Americans reside with Alzheimer’s. By 2050, this quantity is projected to rise to almost 13 million, in keeping with the Alzheimer’s Association.

The Houston researchers in contrast the danger of Alzheimer’s in roughly 935,000 flu-vaccinated adults and an analogous 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 threat 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. Past research have discovered ties between different grownup vaccinations – together with these for tetanus, polio, herpes, and pneumonia – and a decrease threat 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 analogous affiliation exists between COVID-19 vaccination and a decrease threat of Alzheimer’s illness, the researchers say.

Snyder cautions that it’s “too early to inform if getting flu vaccine, by itself, can scale back threat of Alzheimer’s. More analysis is required to know the organic mechanisms behind the outcomes on this research.”

“For instance, it’s doable that people who find themselves getting vaccinated additionally take higher care of their well being in different methods, and these items add as much as decrease threat of Alzheimer’s and different dementias,” Snyder says. “It can be doable that there are points associated to unequal entry and/or vaccine hesitancy and the way this may occasionally affect the research inhabitants and the analysis outcomes.”