Shingles is a painful skin condition caused by the same virus that gives you chickenpox. If you had chickenpox before, the virus stays hidden in your body.
Years later, it can wake up and cause shingles, especially in older adults. When that happens, it not only causes a rash but may also raise your chances of having a heart attack or stroke in the first month.
If the virus shows up in a certain facial nerve, the risk of a stroke can even double or triple. That’s why the shingles vaccine is more important than many people think.
A new study suggests that the shingles vaccine might protect more than just your skin. It could also lower your risk of serious health problems like heart attacks and strokes. James Mbinta, the lead researcher of the study, says this vaccine has a lot of potential.
To see how well the vaccine works, the researchers looked at hospital records from two different time periods: the first 42 days after people got the vaccine and another period later on.
They found fewer hospital visits for strokes and heart attacks during the first six weeks. This suggests that the vaccine might cut the risk of those problems almost in half during that time.
The study included 278,375 adults in New Zealand who got the shingles vaccine between 2018 and 2021. Most of them were aged 70 or older. That means older adults may benefit the most from getting the shot.
Another expert, Professor Colin Simpson, pointed out that the results matched findings from a similar study in Australia. That research also showed fewer strokes in people aged 70 to 79 who had the shingles vaccine.
This isn’t the first time the shingles vaccine has shown its power. Earlier research by Mbinta found that the vaccine could lower the risk of being hospitalized with nerve pain, which can happen after someone has shingles.
About one in three people will get shingles in their lifetime, and your chances go up as you get older. For people over 70, the vaccine could mean avoiding not only a painful rash but also the serious risks of heart attacks and strokes.
Like any vaccine, it’s important to weigh the benefits and any possible risks. Talk to your doctor to find out if the shingles vaccine is right for you.
In short, the shingles vaccine does more than protect against a skin rash. It may also shield your heart and brain, especially during the first weeks after you get it. That makes it a powerful tool for protecting your overall health as you age.
If you care about heart disease, please read studies about a big cause of heart failure, and common blood test could advance heart failure treatment.
For more health information, please see recent studies about a new way to repair human heart, and results showing drinking coffee may help reduce heart failure risk.
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