A new study suggests the shingles vaccine may provide significant protection against dementia in older adults.
Researchers at the Brown University School of Public Health in Rhode Island found that people who received the shingles vaccine were less likely to develop dementia.
Lead author Dr. Kaley Hughes found that one in 17 dementia cases could possibly be prevented through shingles vaccination.
The finding could have broad implications because, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 99% of Americans born in 1980 or earlier had chickenpox.
Chickenpox is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which also triggers shingles when the virus becomes reactivated later in life.
According to the CDC, about one million people in the United States develop shingles each year.