imagine if the flu shot cut the chances of developing alzheimer’s disease?
while researchers haven’t figured out what it is about the flu vaccine that protects the brain, they found that other adult inoculations seem to be showing the same result.
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the disease is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for 60 to 80 per cent of all cases, and more than 747,000 canadians are currently living with alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. getty
a new study has found that the flu vaccine may have a protective effect against alzheimer’s, reducing a person’s risk of developing the disease by 40 per cent over the next four years compared to someone who skips the seasonal shot.
the discovery, published in the journal of alzheimer’s disease, is part of a large scale study that was created to explore the relationship between inoculation and the neurodegenerative disease after a connection between the two was made at the same research facility two years ago.
“we found that flu vaccination in older adults reduces the risk of developing alzheimer’s disease for several years,” said avram s. bukhbinder, first author of the study and a recent alumnus of mcgovern medical school at uthealth houston. “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.”
alzheimer’s disease is a chronic condition that is believed to be the result of the accumulation of certain proteins in the brain that leads to the slow death of neurons, according to the alzheimer’s association. this process eventually produces symptoms of memory loss, difficulty thinking or changes in mood and behaviour. the disease is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for 60 to 80 per cent of all cases, and more than 747,000 canadians are currently living with alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. with canada’s aging population, it is expected that the cost of treating these patients in canada will increase to around $16.6-billion annually by 2031.
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the study included 935,887 flu-vaccinated patients and the same number of non-vaccinated patients who were all followed four years. it found that 5.1 per cent of those who rolled up their sleeves and got the jab went on to develop dementia, compared to 8.5 per cent of those who did not. although researchers haven’t figured out the underlying mechanisms driving this protective effect, they noted that other adult inoculations appear to produce a similar result.
“since there is evidence that several vaccines may protect from alzheimer’s disease, we are thinking that it isn’t a specific effect of the flu vaccine,” schulz said. “instead, we believe that the immune system is complex and some alterations, such as pneumonia, may activate it in a way that makes alzheimer’s disease worse. but other things that activate the immune system may do so in a different way — one that protects from alzheimer’s disease.
“clearly, we have more to learn about how the immune system worsens or improves outcomes in this disease.”
according to the team, testing the effects of the vaccine on current patients may help solve some of these mysteries. “future research should assess whether flu vaccination is also associated with the rate of symptom progression in patients who already have alzheimer’s dementia.”
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dave yasvinski is a writer with healthing.ca
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