Over the course of four years, people who received at least one flu vaccine were 40% less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than people who didn't.
Senior author Paul is a recent graduate of McGovern Medical School at UT Health Houston. The risk of Alzheimer's disease incidence between patients with and without prior flu vaccine was compared in a large nationwide sample.
The paper will be published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease on August 2nd.
The risk of developing Alzheimer's disease is reduced by the flu vaccine. The strength of this protective effect increased with the number of years that a person received an annual flu vaccine -- in other words, the rate of developing Alzheimer's was lowest among those who consistently received the flu vaccine every year. The rate of symptom progression in patients who already have Alzheimer's dementia should be assessed in the future.
Two years after UTHealth Houston researchers found a possible link between the flu vaccine and reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease, a larger sample of flu-vaccinated patients and non-vaccinated patients were analyzed.
5.1% of flu-vaccinated patients were found to have Alzheimer's disease four years later. Alzheimer's disease was diagnosed in 8.5% of patients who were notvaccinated.
The results show that the vaccine protects against Alzheimer's disease. The underlying mechanisms need further study.
According to the Umphrey Family Professor in Neurological Diseases and Director of the Neurological Disorders Center at McGovern, there is evidence that several vaccines may protect from Alzheimer's disease. We believe that the immune system is complex and that some alterations, such as pneumonia, may make it worse. One thing that protects from Alzheimer's disease is something that stimulates the immune system. It's clear that we have more to learn about how the immune system works.
Alzheimer's disease affects more than 6 million people in the U.S., with the number of affected individuals growing. Past studies have found a decreased risk of dementia associated with prior exposure to various adulthood vaccinations.
As more time passes since the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine and longer follow-up data becomes available, it will be worth investigating whether a similar association exists between the vaccine and Alzheimer's disease.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and McGovern Medical School collaborated on a study. The Christopher Sarofim Family Professor in Biomedical Informatics and Engineering, Xiaoqian Jiang, PhD, and Yejin Kim, PhD, were co-authors of the paper. The assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control with the UTHealth School of Public Health co-authored the study.
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