Shingles is a painful skin condition that many people may not think about until it happens to them. It comes from the same virus that causes chickenpox. If you’ve had chickenpox before, the virus stays in your body, even after you recover. It doesn’t cause problems for most people, but in some cases, it can become active again years later, leading to shingles.
Shingles usually appears as a rash with painful blisters. It is more common in older adults and can cause severe discomfort. But what many don’t realize is that shingles isn’t just about the rash—it can also increase the risk of serious health problems.
A recent study found that when the virus becomes active again, it can raise the chances of having a heart attack or stroke, especially in the first month after the rash appears. If the virus affects certain nerves in the face, the risk of stroke can double or even triple.
A Vaccine That May Offer More Than Just Rash Protection
The shingles vaccine is already recommended for older adults to prevent the rash and its painful complications. But new research suggests that getting vaccinated might do even more—it could also lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Dr. James Mbinta, the lead researcher of a recent study, found that people who received the shingles vaccine had a lower chance of being hospitalized for these serious conditions in the weeks following vaccination. His team studied health records from 278,375 adults in New Zealand who got the vaccine between 2018 and 2021. Most of them were aged 70 or older.
To see if the vaccine made a difference, researchers compared hospital records from two different time periods: the first 42 days after vaccination and a later period of 72 to 162 days.
The results showed that hospitalizations were lower in the first 42 days. This suggests that the vaccine may cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes by nearly half in the six weeks after getting the shot.
Professor Colin Simpson, another researcher involved in the study, pointed out that similar findings were reported in Australia. There, adults between 70 and 79 who got the shingles vaccine also had fewer strokes.
This isn’t the first study to highlight the benefits of the vaccine. In previous research, Dr. Mbinta and his team found that the vaccine could reduce the risk of being hospitalized due to nerve pain, a common and often long-lasting complication of shingles.
Why This Matters for Older Adults
Shingles is a common condition, with about one in three people developing it at some point in their lives. The risk increases with age. While the vaccine is already known to help prevent shingles and its painful effects, this new research suggests that it may also provide heart and brain protection.
For older adults, getting vaccinated could mean reducing not just the discomfort of shingles but also the risk of life-threatening health events like heart attacks and strokes.
As with any vaccine, it’s important to talk to a doctor to understand both the benefits and any potential risks. But for many people, this research offers one more reason to consider the shingles vaccine—not just for the rash but for overall health and well-being.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that vitamin K helps cut heart disease risk by a third, and a year of exercise reversed worrisome heart failure.
For more health information, please see recent studies about supplements that could help prevent heart disease, stroke, and results showing this food ingredient may strongly increase heart disease death risk.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
