Influenza Vaccine Use Correlates with Lower Risk of Alzheimer ' s Disease

Researchers here note a correlation between receiving influenza vaccination, even once, and the later risk of Alzheimer's disease. This is interesting in the context of the present debate over the mechanisms of Alzheimer's, particularly regarding whether or not persistent viral infection is an important driver of the condition. Inflammation and immune system dysfunction are also clearly important in the progression of neurodegenerative conditions. How exactly influenza vaccines might influence this complex decline is an open question. One might hypothesize that this is mediated by something other than biology - that people more likely to take care of their overall health, and thus have a lesser degree of chronic inflammation and lesser incidence of Alzheimer's disease, are also more likely to make use of influenza vaccines. People who received at least one flu vaccination were 17% less likely to get Alzheimer's disease over the course of a lifetime, according to new research. "Because there are no treatments for Alzheimer's disease, it is crucial that we find ways to prevent it and delay its onset. About 5.8 million people in the United States have this disease, so even a small reduction in risk can make a dramatic difference. We began our study by looking for ways we could reduce this risk." "Our role was to sort through enormous amounts of de-identified patient data in the Cerner Health Facts database to see whether there are drugs that could be repurposed t...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs