Shingles vaccine may help elderly to live longer

By Stephen Beech

A shingles vaccine may help the elderly to live longer, according to new research.

The vaccination not only protects against the painful disease but may also contribute to slower biological aging in older adults, say American scientists.

The study showed that people aged 70 or older who had the shingles jab scored better on four key aspects of biological aging including inflammation.

Using data from the nationally representative U.S. Health and Retirement Study, researchers examined how shingles vaccination affected several aspects of biological aging in more than 3,800 participants who were age 70 or older in 2016.

Even when allowing for other socio-demographic and health variables, those senior citizens who received the shingles vaccine showed slower overall biological aging on average in comparison to unvaccinated people.

Shingles, also called herpes zoster, is a painful, blistering skin rash caused by the reactivation of the chickenpox virus, or varicella zoster.

Anyone who has had chickenpox is at risk for shingles.

While shingles can occur at younger ages, risk is higher among those aged 50 or older and immunocompromised individuals.

Vaccination, which has generally only been provided to older people, offers protection from shingles as well as a lower chance of postherpetic neuralgia, or long-term pain after a shingles infection.

While vaccines are designed to protect against acute infection, recent studies have highlighted a possible connection between adult vaccines - including those for shingles and influenza - and lower risks of dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Study first author Professor Jung Ki Kim said: “This study adds to emerging evidence that vaccines could play a role in promoting healthy aging by modulating biological systems beyond infection prevention.

Unlike chronological aging, she explained that biological aging refers to how the body is changing over time, including how well organs and systems are working.

Two people who are both 65 years of age may look very different inside: one may have the biological profile of someone younger, while another may show signs of aging earlier.

In the new study, Kim and co-author Professor Eileen Crimmins, also of the University of Southern California (USC), measured seven aspects of biological aging.

These were inflammation; innate immunity - the body’s general defences against infection; adaptive immunity - responses to specific pathogens after exposure or vaccination; blood flow; neurodegeneration; epigenetic aging and transcriptomic aging - changes in how genes are transcribed into RNA used to create proteins.

The USC team also used the measures collectively to record a composite biological aging score.

On average, vaccinated people had "significantly" lower inflammation measurements, slower epigenetic and transcriptomic aging, and lower composite biological aging scores.

The team say the results, published in the Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, provide more insight into the possible mechanisms underlying how immune system health interacts with the aging process.

Kim says chronic, low-level inflammation is a well-known contributor to many age-related conditions - including heart disease, frailty, and cognitive decline - known as “inflammaging.”

She said: “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.

“While the exact biological mechanisms remain to be understood, the potential for vaccination to reduce inflammation makes it a promising addition to broader strategies aimed at promoting resilience and slowing age-related decline.”

Kim says the potential benefits could also be persistent.

When analyzing how the time since vaccination affected results, the USC team found that participants who received their vaccine four or more years before providing their blood sample still showed slower epigenetic, transcriptomic and overall biological aging on average compared to the unvaccinated participants.

Crimmins said: “These findings indicate that shingles vaccination influences key domains linked to the aging process."

She added: “While further research is needed to replicate and extend these findings, especially using longitudinal and experimental designs, our study adds to a growing body of work suggesting that vaccines may play a role in healthy aging strategies beyond solely preventing acute illness.”