US researchers who analysed medical data for 38,000 patients with an average age of 69 have found those who received the shingles vaccine lowered their risk for vascular dementia by 50 percent. In addition, the shingles-vaccinated people had a 27 percent risk reduction for blood clots, a 25 percent lower risk of heart attack and stroke, and a 21 percent lower death risk.
The study by scientists at Case Western Reserve University was presented at IDWeek 2025 (joint annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, HIV Medicine Association, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists).
This latest research follows two other recent 2025 studies where:
- US scientists at Stanford University reported in Nature that shingles vaccine may help reduce dementia risk by as much as 20 percent;
- South Korean researchers at Kyung Hee University reported in the European Heart Journal that shingles vaccine may help lower risk for cardiovascular events by 23 percent.
In the latest study, participants who received the shingles vaccine were followed for an average 3.6 years, and those who did not receive the vaccine were followed for an average 3.9 years. Author Dr Ali Dehghani told medicalnewstoday.com: ‘Vaccines don’t just prevent infection – they can also shape how the body responds to inflammation.
‘Herpes zoster (shingles) is now recognised as a condition that can affect the heart, blood vessels and brain long after the rash is gone.
‘Understanding how the shingles vaccine might reduce these broader complications helps us appreciate vaccines as tools for overall health protection, not just for stopping one disease.’
Dr Dehghani noted: ‘We’ve learned from past studies that shingles can increase the risk of heart attack, stroke and dementia; but no one had yet asked whether being vaccinated before getting shingles could lessen those long-term risks.
‘Our goal was to test whether vaccination might not only prevent shingles itself, but also blunt the inflammation that drives vascular and cognitive damage afterward.
‘These numbers suggest the vaccine’s benefits may extend far beyond preventing shingles. We think the shingles vaccine may help the immune system control the virus before it causes widespread inflammation, which in turn could protect blood vessels and the brain. It highlights how reducing inflammation early – through vaccination – can have lasting effects on heart, brain, and overall survival.’
