People who have received at least one dose of flu vaccine were 40% less likely to develop the Alzheimer’s disease , over four years, compared to unvaccinated. This is what a new study by UTHealth Houston in the United States reveals.
The research compared the risk of neurodegenerative disease incidence between patients with and without prior influenza vaccination in a large national sample of US adults aged 65 years and older.
The preliminary results of study were announced online in advance. The final version of the research will be published in August in the scientific journal Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
“We found that flu vaccination in older adults reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease for several years. The strength of this protective effect increased with the number of years a person received an annual flu shot — in other words, the rate of Alzheimer’s development was lowest among those who consistently received the flu shot each year.” researcher Avram S. Bukhbinder, the study’s first author, said in a statement.
According to the expert, future research should assess whether flu vaccination is also associated with the rate of symptom progression in patients who already have Alzheimer’s.
The study comes two years after researchers at UTHealth Houston found a possible link between the flu vaccine and reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The new research looked at a larger sample than previous investigations, including 935,887 flu-vaccinated patients and 935,887 unvaccinated patients.
During the four-year follow-up visits, about 5.1% of flu-vaccinated patients developed Alzheimer’s disease. Meanwhile, 8.5% of unvaccinated patients developed the condition during follow-up.
For specialists, the results found underscore the strong protective effect of the flu vaccine against Alzheimer’s disease. However, the mechanisms associated with this process require further study.
“Since there is evidence that several vaccines can protect against Alzheimer’s disease, we are thinking that it is not a specific effect of the flu vaccine,” Paul said. E. Schulz, professor of neurology at McGovern Medical School. “Instead, we believe that the immune system is complex, and some changes, like pneumonia, can activate it in ways that make Alzheimer’s disease worse. But other things that activate the immune system may do so in a different way – one that protects against Alzheimer’s disease.”
Previous studies have found a reduced risk of dementia associated with previous exposure to several vaccines for adults, including those for tetanus, polio, and herpes, in addition to the flu vaccine and others.
about the disease
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by cognitive and memory deterioration. Symptoms include progressive impairment of daily activities and a variety of neuropsychiatric manifestations and behavioral changes.
The clinical picture is associated with the wrong processing of certain proteins in the central nervous system, which leads to the appearance of poorly cut, toxic protein fragments inside neurons and in the spaces between them.
As a consequence, there is a progressive loss of neurons in regions of the brain, such as the hippocampus, which controls memory, and the cerebral cortex, essential for language and reasoning, memory, recognition of sensory stimuli and abstract thinking. The symptoms of the disease require comprehensive care for people with Alzheimer’s.
In Brazil, it is estimated that there are 1.2 million cases, most of them still undiagnosed and, in the world, about 35.6 million people are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Source: CNN Brasil
