The shingles vaccine, solely given to prevent severe side effects from a shingles outbreak, predominantly in older populations, might come with another sought-after add-on: slowing biological aging.
This is what data derived from a nationally representative U.S. Health and Retirement Study, involving over 3,800 individuals and analyzed by researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, suggests.
Published in The Journals of Gerontology, the study showed that people receiving the shingles vaccine between 2008 and 2018 biologically aged more slowly on average, following a trend of recent discoveries of vaccines’ broader potential to protect from age-related decline by modulating the immune system.
Read more: Why are Painful Blisters From Shingles Appearing on People Under 50?
Biological vs. Chronological Aging
To understand what biological processes are behind aging, researchers are looking beyond chronological age. The environment we’re brought up in and our genetic profile determine our biological age, which could differ drastically in two people with the same birthday.
The research team from USC used the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative cohort of older adults in the U.S., to analyze data derived from blood samples collected in 2016, physical assessments, and records of shingles vaccination history through 2018 from individuals aged 70 and beyond.
The main emphasis of the study lay on measuring seven key markers of biological aging, representing inflammation, immunity, blood flow, neurodegeneration, and distinct genetic behaviors. Additionally, they were able to calculate a composite biological aging score for each participant, a predictive tool for health status, disease risk, mortality, and health span.
Looking at the data, taking sociodemographic and other health variables into consideration, vaccination against shingles showed a clear trend: lower inflammation scores, slower genetic aging, and a lower composite biological aging score.
Protective Effects of Vaccines
Since its approval in 2006 for adults aged 60 and older, the shingles vaccine has become a staple of vaccination schedules for the older population worldwide. What can start as a harmless chickenpox infection in childhood has the potential to return as a nasty shingles infection, thanks to the herpes zoster virus dormant in the body.
Shingles can occur at any age for those infected with the virus, appearing as a painful and blistering skin rash most commonly on the body’s trunk, carrying risks for serious nerve damage — especially for older populations and those who are immunocompromised — making it a loose cannon.
Recent research has started to uncover protective side effects of vaccines besides their designated target infection. Shingles and influenza vaccines may lower risks of dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders, as described in a press statement. However, no one has looked at a possible link between shingles vaccination and aging before.
“This study adds to emerging evidence that vaccines could play a role in promoting healthy aging by modulating biological systems beyond infection prevention,” said study lead author Jung Ki Kim, research associate professor of gerontology, in the statement.
Chronic Inflammation Drives Aging
So, how could a vaccine possibly pull this trick? The researchers explain that the vaccine may impact biological aging by remodeling immune cells, resulting in a lower degree of inflammation across the whole system.
Chronically suffering from low-level inflammation, driven by a multitude of factors, is a commonly known contributor to a variety of age-related conditions, including heart disease, cognitive decline, and frailty — a process already established as “inflammaging” in medical circles.
“By helping to reduce this background inflammation — possibly by preventing reactivation of the virus that causes shingles — the vaccine may play a role in supporting healthier aging,” said Kim.
Study co-author Eileen Crimmins, USC University Professor and AARP Chair in Gerontology, highlighted in the release that further research is still needed to extend the findings, but that the findings already suggest the vaccine's potential role in healthy aging strategies.
This article is not offering medical advice and should be used for informational purposes only.
Read more: Shingles Vaccine May Reduce Dementia Risk and Could Slow Disease Progression
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- This article references information from a recent study published in The Journals of Gerontology: Association between shingles vaccination and slower biological aging: Evidence from a U.S. population-based cohort study
