While there have been no recent or significant strides in treating dementia, there is some good news on the prevention front.

 

Nearly one million Canadians are projected to be living with dementia by the year  2030. And while that is a staggering number, exercising, eating a balanced and nutritious diet, and even playing music have been shown to cut risk significantly. 

 

And here is another ray of hope for prevention: observational studies on shingles vaccination and dementia risk presented in Toronto this summer at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) showed that those who had received two doses of shingles vaccine had a greatly reduced risk (33-51%) of developing dementia. 

 

Specifically:

• In a study of adults aged 65 and older within an integrated healthcare system in Southern California, 65,800 individuals vaccinated with 2 doses of Recombinant Zoster Vaccine (RZV) were matched 1:4 with 263,200 unvaccinated individuals on age, sex, race/ethnicity and history of immunization with Zoster Vaccine Live (ZVL). Data showed that the individuals who received two doses of RZV had a 51% lower risk of dementia compared to unvaccinated individuals. 

 

• In a study of U.S. Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and older, 502,845 individuals who’d received two doses of RZV and were matched 2:1 with 1,005,690 unvaccinated individuals, data showed that the individuals vaccinated with two doses of RZV had a 33% lower risk of all- cause dementia compared to unvaccinated individuals.  

 

These new studies reinforce earlier observations that have seen a link between shingles vaccination and dementia prevention.