A new study led by Stanford Medicine shows that after decades of searching, changes in tactics have brought scientists closer to developing treatments for dementia.
Posted in nature Elderly people who received shingles vaccine were found to be 20% less likely to develop dementia in the following seven years, while those who were not vaccinated were 20 years less likely to develop dementia.
The findings were made after analyzing the health records of older Welsh people. It increases the idea that viruses that affect the nervous system may increase the likelihood of dementia.
What is shingles
The shingles virus is the same as the virus that causes chicken pox. Once you sign the chicken, it may take 10 to 21 days to show up. Telltale rash may last up to 10 daysaccording to Mayo Clinic.
Most patients with shingles will get chicken pox and have never considered the disease since then. But once you get the chicken pox zoster virus that causes chicken pox, you’ll be alive. It is dormant in nerve cells. As a result, the virus may be resurrected as it ages or weakens the immune system.
What is dementia
In the United States, 6.9 million people aged 65 or over are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, this is the most common form of dementia.
Globally, it is estimated that more than 10 million new cases of dementia are diagnosed each year, and More than 55 million people currently suffer from dementia. These figures are expected to increase significantly, with estimates indicating that the number of dementia patients will double almost every 20 years, with the number of dementia to reach 78 million by 2030 to 2050 and by 2030. In 2050 cases, the number of people with dementia will reach 78 million. An estimated 13 million are Americans.
New research
Dementia research has focused almost entirely on the accumulation of plaques and nerve fiber tangles found in neurons. These tangles or protein mass can damage the internal structure of neurons. As a result, communication between brain cells is destroyed. Eventually, the cells die.
After decades of research, no treatment has been produced, more and more researchers have turned to other areas of investigation. This includes Stanford University’s research on the effects of viral infections.
Previous research
Other studies exploring the link between shingles vaccines and reducing the risk of dementia have no control group. In the study, the control group was a group of people with the same treatment as a similar group.
“All of these association studies suffer from the fundamental problem that the health behavior of vaccinated people is different from those without the vaccine.” “In general, they do not have enough evidence to make any recommendations.”
Welsh effect
Wales unconsciously established a perfect control group for Stanford Medical Research.
In 2013, the Welsh government established a shingles vaccine program that restricts treatment to people aged 79. Age restrictions are due to lack of vaccines. As of September 2, people aged 80 and older are not eligible for shooting.
The researchers focused on people born one week and within one week before the eligibility date.
“We know that if you randomly give birth to a thousand people in a week and a thousand people in a week are randomly born, on average, there is no difference.” “They are similar to each other except for this small difference.”
The result is a nearly perfect research storm.
“What makes the study so powerful is that it’s essentially like a randomized trial with the control group – those who are too old to qualify for the vaccine – and an intervention group – those who are young enough,” Geldsetzer said.
Seven years later
By 2020, one in eight of the Welsh studies have been diagnosed with dementia. But those who receive shingles vaccines are 20% less likely to develop dementia than those who are not vaccinated.
“It’s a very amazing discovery,” Geldsetzer said. “There is this huge protection signal that you view the data any way.”
More positive results
To ensure that Welsch’s research is not a one-off, the Stanford Medical team has conducted similar studies over the past few years. The results of these studies are similar to those of the Welsch project.
Countries that conducted the follow-up study included England, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Each of these countries has launched a shingles vaccine in a similar way to Wales. As a result, these studies created their own control groups.
“We just kept seeing strong protection signals for dementia in the dataset after the dataset,” Geldsetzer said.
Still unknown
Although the results were positive, how the vaccine prevents dementia remains unknown. The vaccine may improve overall immunity or be protected through some other mechanism.
Another finding suggests that women benefit from vaccines from men. Geldsetzer theoretically believes this may be a consequence of gender differences in immune responses or development of dementia.
Geldsetzer advocates more research to address these unknowns.
The economic cost of dementia
The cost of care for people with dementia may depend on the type of help required.
“ Residential Memory Care Community A place with advanced life referral services said: “It’s about $6,450 a month and $77,400 a year.
The University of Southern California (USC) team is gaining a deeper understanding of all the costs associated with dementia. Their goal is to create a dementia cost model that families can use to estimate costs and weigh care options.
USC Price Price Price Priped School professor Julie Zissimopoulos and USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics,,,,, Responsible for the procedures. One of the problems is that treatment and associated costs can be a moving target.
Additional fees
“We currently have estimates of a specific set of costs, but we understand that these estimates do not cover almost all costs for dementia, family and people in society. Everything about this disease affects the family’s pocket book.”
The Alzheimer’s Disease Association sets the cost of dementia treatment at $360 billion in 2024. By 2050, this figure could reach $1 trillion.
Report Published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that the average treatment cost for patients with dementia was $321,780. From diagnosis to death, this number took 60 months. Of these, families hang out on average $89,840.
“Other consequences may include lower retirement savings for caregivers or limited ability to send children to college,” said Maria Aranda, consultant at Project Advisor, USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. “This, in turn, leads to intergenerational transmission of inequality and financial vulnerability in families with dementia.”
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Max K. Erkiletian started writing for newspapers while still in high school. He continues to be an award-winning journalist and co-founder of Free Bird. He has written for various regional and national publications as well as many online publications. This gave him the opportunity to interview former Fed president Paul Volker to the muddy waters of Blues Musicians and various famous figures from BB King. Max lives in Springfield, Missouri with his wife Karen and their cat-Pudge. He spent as much time as possible with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
