A current study supports an exciting hypothesis: Those who regularly get vaccinated against the flu are better protected against dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
Berlin - Many people fear dementia and its most common form, Alzheimer's disease, in old age.
Scientists all over the world are researching new therapies and types of prevention to put a stop to pathological forgetting.
A new study from the USA has also found remarkable information.
Influenza vaccination lowers risk of dementia: the study examines 120,000 veterans
In an American study, over 120,000 US veterans, averaging 75.5 years of age, were examined.
Most of the subjects were white men, all without a diagnosis of dementia *.
The researchers examined the participants' medical records over a ten-year period, between 2009 and 2019.
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Those who regularly get vaccinated against the flu seem to be better protected against dementia.
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The participants were then divided into groups based on how many flu vaccinations * they had received over the ten years.
Then it was analyzed who developed dementia, for example Alzheimer's disease, during that period.
So-called co-variables such as age, ethnicity, gender, marital status and insurance status, which have an influence on the risk of dementia *, were removed from the statistics.
The average observation time of the patients was a little over 6.5 years.
During this time, almost 16,000 people were newly diagnosed with dementia.
Influenza vaccination lowers the risk of dementia: 40,000 Germans save from dementia - every year
The analysis showed that those who had themselves regularly vaccinated against influenza * were proportionally less likely to develop dementia.
Overall, the vaccinations reduced the risk of dementia by twelve percent!
However, only if more than six vaccinations were administered during the observation period.
The flu vaccination could not only protect against a severe course of Corona *, but also against dementia.
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“This effect is not insignificant.
With around 330,000 new cases of dementia in Germany * every year, regular flu vaccinations could save almost 40,000 people from being diagnosed with dementia ", says dementia expert Prof. Richard Dodel from the German Society for Neurology.
Influenza vaccination lowers risk of dementia: how does it work?
The authors explain how vaccinations against influenza * are supposed to reduce the risk of dementia as follows: The vaccinations stimulate the immune cells of the brain (microglia).
They recognize disease-causing substances and waste products and break them down.
As has been shown in animal experiments, beta-amyloid is said to have been broken down increasingly.
This is exactly what is deposited between the nerve cells in Alzheimer's disease and damages them.
“The basic idea of many Alzheimer's therapies is to smuggle beta-amyloid out of the body before the protein can cause damage to the brain. If prospective studies now show that repeated flu vaccinations have exactly this effect and break down beta-amyloid, that would be a breakthrough for dementia therapy. The available data suggest this, but are not yet conclusive. The observed positive effect of vaccinations on the risk of dementia could ultimately also be due to the fact that people who receive regular vaccinations also live more healthily and thus have a lower risk of disease. We therefore now need further, prospective studies to unambiguously clarify the connection, ”is Dodel's conclusion.
* 24vita.de and Merkur.de are offered by IPPEN.MEDIA.
This article only contains general information on the respective health topic and is therefore not intended for self-diagnosis, treatment or medication. In no way does it replace a visit to the doctor. Unfortunately, our editors are not allowed to answer individual questions about clinical pictures.
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