Overview
- Using Welsh electronic health records for 304,940 people born 1925–1942, researchers followed outcomes for nine years across linked primary care, hospital, and death data.
- Eligibility for the shingles shot reduced nine-year incidence of mild cognitive impairment by 1.5 percentage points, rising to 3.1 points among those actually vaccinated.
- Among 14,350 people with dementia at baseline, eligibility cut dementia-related deaths by 8.5 percentage points, and vaccination by 29.5 points, with similar gains for all-cause mortality in this group.
- No mortality benefit was detected in participants without dementia, indicating effects concentrated among those already diagnosed.
- Benefits were larger in women, the team analyzed comparable records in Australia to support the findings, and experts called for randomized trials and mechanistic studies to confirm causality.