TY - JOUR T1 - Herpes Zoster Vaccination Reduces Risk of Dementia JF - In Vivo JO - In Vivo SP - 3271 LP - 3275 DO - 10.21873/invivo.12622 VL - 35 IS - 6 AU - STEVEN LEHRER AU - PETER H. RHEINSTEIN Y1 - 2021/11/01 UR - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/35/6/3271.abstract N2 - Background/Αim: The relationship of herpes viruses and herpes zoster (HZ) with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is controversial. This study evaluated the relationship between HZ vaccination and cognitive impairment. Patients and Methods: We used data from The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to evaluate the relationship between HZ vaccination and cognitive impairment. Results: Using BRFSS 2017 data, we assessed HZ vaccination status in 275 subjects whose social activities were hampered by disorientation or memory loss. 61.6% of vaccinated subjects (n=61) and 46.6% of unvaccinated subjects (n=82) never had social activities hampered by disorientation or memory loss. The result is significant (p=0.025, two-sided Fisher exact test). The results of multivariate linear regression analysis, considering social activities hampered by disorientation or memory loss as a dependent variable, and vaccination (yes or no), sex, and education level as independent variables, showed that the effect of vaccination--reducing risk of social activities hampered by disorientation or memory loss--was significant (p=0.03). Conclusion: Our finding that HZ vaccination reduces the risk of dementia is consistent with the link between viruses and AD. Herpes viruses-induced reactivation of embryologic pathways silenced at birth could be one of the pathologic processes in Alzheimer’s disease. ER -