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Flu Vaccine Reduces Alzheimer’s Risk 40%

RESEARCH ARTICLE + VIDEO:

People who receive at least one influenza vaccine are 40% less likely than their non-vaccinated peers to develop Alzheimer’s disease, researchers find. Learn more.


People who received at least one influenza vaccine were 40% less likely than their non-vaccinated peers to develop Alzheimer’s disease over the course of four years, according to a study from UTHealth Houston.

Research led by Avram S. Bukhbinder, MD, a recent alumnus of McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, and Paul. E. Schulz, MD, the Rick McCord Professor in Neurology at McGovern Medical School, compared the risk of Alzheimer’s disease incidence between patients with and without prior flu vaccination in a large nationwide sample of U.S. adults aged 65 and older.

The paper detailing the findings was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

What researchers learned

We found that flu vaccination in older adults reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease for several years,” said Bukhbinder.

“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,” he said.

“Future research should assess whether flu vaccination is also associated with the rate of symptom progression in patients who already have Alzheimer’s dementia.”

Findings

The study – which came two years after UTHealth Houston researchers found a possible link between the flu vaccine and reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease – analyzed a much larger sample than previous research, including 935,887 flu-vaccinated patients and 935,887 non-vaccinated patients.

During four-year follow-up appointments, about 5.1% of flu-vaccinated patients were found to have developed Alzheimer’s disease. Meanwhile, 8.5% of non-vaccinated patients had developed Alzheimer’s disease during follow-up.

These results underscore the strong protective effect of the flu vaccine against Alzheimer’s disease, according to Bukhbinder and Schulz. However, the underlying mechanisms behind this process require further study.

Benefit not specific to flu vaccine

“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,” said Schulz, who is also the Umphrey Family Professor in Neurodegenerative Diseases and director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Center at McGovern Medical School.

“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.”

Link to many vaccines

Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 6 million people living in the U.S. with the number of affected individuals growing due to the nation’s aging population.

Past studies have found a decreased risk of dementia associated with prior exposure to various adulthood vaccinations, including those for tetanus, polio, and herpes, in addition to the flu vaccine and others.

Additionally, as more time passes since the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine and longer follow-up data becomes available, Bukhbinder said it will be worth investigating whether a similar association exists between COVID-19 vaccination and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

MORE INFO:

  • Co-authors from McGovern Medical School included Omar Hasan, research coordinator in the Department of Neurology and student at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; Kamal N. Phelps, fourth-year medical student; Srivathsan Ramesh, PhD, first-year resident in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery; and alumni Albert Amran, MD, and Ryan Coburn, MD. Co-authors from UTHealth Houston School of Biomedical Informatics included Yaobin Ling, graduate research assistant; Xiaoqian Jiang, PhD, the Christopher Sarofim Family Professor in Biomedical Informatics and Engineering; and Yejin Kim, PhD, assistant professor. Qian Xiao, PhD, MPH, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control with UTHealth School of Public Health, also co-authored the study.

SOURCE:

REFERENCE:

  • Bukhbinder, Avram S. et al. ‘Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease Following Influenza Vaccination: A Claims-Based Cohort Study Using Propensity Score Matching’. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, vol. Pre-press, no. Pre-press, pp. 1-14, June 13, 2022. DOI: 10.3233/JAD-220361

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Edited by:
B. Berger

B. Berger

This site was inspired by my Mom’s autoimmune dementia.

It is a place where we separate out the wheat from the chaffe, the important articles & videos from each week’s river of news. With a new post on Alzheimer’s or dementia appearing on the internet every 7 minutes, the site’s focus on the best information has been a help to many over the past 15 years. Thanks to our many subscribers for your supportive feedback.

The site is dedicated to all those preserving the dignity of the community of people living with dementia.

Peter Berger, Editor

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This site was inspired by my Mom’s autoimmune dementia.

It is a place where we separate out the wheat from the chaffe, the important articles & videos from each week’s river of news. With a new post on Alzheimer’s or dementia appearing on the internet every 7 minutes, the site’s focus on the best information has been a help to many over the past 15 years. Thanks to our many subscribers for your supportive feedback.

The site is dedicated to all those preserving the dignity of the community of people living with dementia.

Peter Berger, Editor

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