Association of herpes zoster with dementia and effect of antiviral therapy on dementia: a population-based cohort study.

Association of herpes zoster with dementia and effect of antiviral therapy on dementia: a population-based cohort study. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2020 Jul 01;: Authors: Bae S, Yun SC, Kim MC, Yoon W, Lim JS, Lee SO, Choi SH, Kim YS, Woo JH, Kim SY, Kim SH Abstract We investigated the association between herpes zoster (HZ) and dementia, and the effects of antiviral therapy on the risk of dementia. We used the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort in South Korea to identify individuals that were followed from January 1, 2002, to December 31, 2013. Occurrences of HZ and dementia were identified using the relevant diagnostic codes. Dementia was defined as the presence of diagnostic codes and history of anti-dementia drug prescription. Propensity score matching (1:1) was carried out among HZ patients according to antiviral therapy. A total of 229,594 individuals aged ≥50 years were analyzed. The incidences of the first-diagnosed HZ and dementia were 16.69 and 4.67 per 1000 person-years (PY), respectively. HZ patients had a higher risk of dementia (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.94 [95% CI 1.83-2.06]; adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.12 [95% CI 1.05-1.19]). Of the 34,505 patients with HZ, 28,873 (84%) had received antiviral treatment. The crude incidence rates of subsequent dementia in the treated and untreated groups were 7.79 and 12.27 per 1000 PY, respectively, resulting in an IRR of 0.64 (95% CI 0.56-0.72) a...
Source: European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci Source Type: research