Three research studies presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC 2020) on 27 July suggested that flu (influenza) and pneumonia vaccination are associated with a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia.
The first study, conducted at the McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston investigated a large American health record dataset (n=9,066) over the age of 60 years old. Findings showed that flu shots were correlated with a lower incidence of the disease. People who had gotten at least one flu vaccination were 17% less likely to receive a subsequent diagnosis of Alzheimer’s dementia, and those who got a more frequent flu vaccination were associated with another 13% reduction in Alzheimer’s dementia incidence. The study also indicated those who received their first vaccine at a younger age had a stronger benefit than those who got it after 70 years old.
The second study, presented by researchers from the Duke University Social Science Research Institute, looked at the pneumococcal vaccine among 5,146 participants over the age of 65 years old from the Cardiovascular Health Study. The researchers found if the vaccination is given between age 65 and 75, there is a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by 25-30% after adjusting for sex, race, birth cohort, education, smoking and genetic risk factors. A subset of this group - people who didn’t carry a specific allele in the TOMM40 gene (known as a genetic risk factor for AD) – was up to 40% less likely to develop the disease.
The third study aimed to investigate the association between several infections and the mortality in people with and without dementia. The study conducted at the Danish Dementia Research Centre, Rigshospitalet and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark used data from Danish national health registries. Scientists reported that people with dementia have a higher risk of dying after infections (6-fold) than those without dementia (3-fold).
https://www.alz.org/aaic/releases_2020/vaccines-dementia-risk.asp