Most people get the shingles vaccine for one very good reason: They don’t want shingles.
But new research suggests the newer shingles vaccine may come with an unexpected bonus—better cardiovascular health.
The finding doesn’t prove that the vaccine prevents heart disease. But it adds to growing evidence that vaccination against shingles may have benefits beyond preventing a notoriously painful rash.
Researchers found a 9% difference in cardiovascular burden
A study published in Nature Medicine examined health outcomes among adults 60 and older who received shingles vaccination around the time the United States transitioned from the older live vaccine to the newer recombinant vaccine, Shingrix.
Researchers compared 36,460 people vaccinated primarily with the newer recombinant vaccine with a closely matched group of 36,460 people vaccinated primarily with the older live vaccine.
Over seven years, the group that predominantly received the newer vaccine experienced a 9% lower burden of major cardiovascular events, including ischemic heart disease, heart failure and ischemic stroke.
The researchers also found a 10% decrease in the burden of ischemic heart disease and a 12% decrease in heart failure.
Among men, ischemic stroke burden was 12% lower.
There’s an important catch
The findings sound impressive, but there’s a distinction that’s easy to lose in a headline.
This study did not simply compare people who received Shingrix with people who received no shingles vaccine.
Instead, researchers took advantage of the period when the U.S. rapidly transitioned from the older live shingles vaccine to the newer recombinant version. That helped reduce a problem common to vaccine studies: People who choose to get vaccinated can be different from people who don’t in many other ways.
They may have better access to healthcare, visit doctors more frequently or engage in other health-promoting behaviors. By comparing two groups of people who were both seeking shingles vaccination, researchers attempted to reduce some of those differences.
Even so, this was not a randomized clinical trial, so it cannot prove that Shingrix itself caused the reduction in cardiovascular problems.
The researchers say clinical trials are needed to investigate whether the vaccine actually has a cardioprotective effect.
Why would a shingles vaccine affect the heart?
There’s a plausible biological reason researchers are interested in the connection.
Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus—the same virus that causes chickenpox. After someone recovers from chickenpox, the virus doesn’t disappear. It remains dormant in the nervous system and can reactivate decades later.
That reactivation can cause inflammation.
Infections and inflammation can temporarily place additional stress on the cardiovascular system, and previous research has linked shingles episodes with increased cardiovascular risk.
Preventing viral reactivation could potentially reduce some of that inflammatory burden. There’s also interest in whether the immune response triggered by the newer recombinant vaccine might provide additional effects.
For now, however, those possibilities remain under investigation.
Shingles itself is worth preventing
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Even if the possible heart benefit eventually turns out to be small—or nonexistent—there’s already a compelling reason for many older adults to get vaccinated.
Shingles can be miserable.
The rash can produce severe burning or stabbing pain, and some people develop postherpetic neuralgia, a complication in which nerve pain continues long after the rash disappears.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in three Americans will develop shingles during their lifetime, and the risk increases with age.
The CDC recommends two doses of Shingrix for adults 50 and older and for adults 19 and older who have weakened immune systems because of disease or therapy.
For healthy adults 50 to 69, clinical trials found Shingrix was 97% effective at preventing shingles. Effectiveness was 91% among adults 70 and older.
This isn’t the first unexpected vaccine connection
Scientists have become increasingly interested in whether certain vaccines might influence health outcomes beyond the infections they were designed to prevent.
Shingles vaccination, for example, has also been studied for possible associations with dementia risk.
That doesn’t mean vaccines should suddenly be considered treatments for heart disease or cognitive decline.
Instead, the research is raising a fascinating question: Could preventing certain infections—or changing the immune response to them—have long-term effects elsewhere in the body?
The answer may eventually help scientists better understand the relationship between infection, inflammation, cardiovascular disease and aging.
You may want to read: Research suggests the shingles vaccine can protect the brain
Don’t get Shingrix just for your heart
This research shouldn’t be interpreted as a new reason to use the shingles vaccine as cardiovascular medicine.
Shingrix is approved and recommended to prevent shingles and its complications—not heart disease.
People concerned about cardiovascular risk should still focus on established factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, physical activity and diet, and discuss individual risks with a healthcare professional.
But for someone already eligible for shingles vaccination, the possibility of additional benefits makes this research particularly intriguing.
Final word
The strongest reason to get the shingles vaccine remains wonderfully straightforward: It dramatically lowers your chances of getting shingles.
That’s already a significant benefit.
But scientists are beginning to uncover a much more complicated relationship between viruses, inflammation, the immune system and diseases we once thought had little to do with infection.
The latest findings don’t prove Shingrix protects your heart.
They do, however, give researchers one more compelling reason to find out.
You may want to read: Are You at Risk for Shingles? Expert Insights and Prevention Tips You Can’t Miss!
