ArticleAlzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.)2021
Herpesvirus infections, antiviral treatment, and the risk of dementia-a registry-based cohort study in Sweden.
Article in Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 96 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of herpes zoster infection, antivirals and vaccination on risk of developing dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025Pooled it
- Herpesviruses, antiviral treatment, and the risk of dementia - systematic review and meta-analysis.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2025Pooled it
- Herpes simplex virus pUL56 abolishes neuronal activity by removing voltage-gated ion channels from the plasma membrane.Science advances · 2026Article
- Interpreting Viral Associations in Neurodegenerative Diseases.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Association of Herpes Simplex Virus Type-1 With Dementia Outcomes: Longitudinal Retrospective Cohort Study Using Real-World Electronic Health Record Data.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Chemokines in Alzheimer's Disease: Early Defence, Late Damage and the Impact of Sex and Infection.Basic & clinical pharmacology & toxicology · 2026Review
- Article
- Roles of Reactive Oxygen Species in Relationships Between Viral Infections and Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Infection, vaccination and risk of dementia: a proposed immunological model.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Herpes simplex virus infection and Alzheimer's disease.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Review
- Varicella-zoster virus reactivation and the risk of dementia.Nature medicine · 2025Article
- The association of common infectious exposures with cognitive performance in community-dwelling older adults.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
- What would it take to prove that a chronic infection is a causal agent in Alzheimer's disease?Trends in neurosciences · 2025Review
- Herpes Simplex Virus Neurovirulence Across the Human Lifespan.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2025Review
- Review
- Association between herpes simplex virus type 1 and the risk of Alzheimer's disease: a retrospective case-control study.BMJ open · 2025Article
- The Association Between Herpes Zoster, Antiherpetic Therapies, and Alzheimer's Disease: A Comprehensive Systematic Review.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Association between herpes simplex virus 1 and dementia: a systematic review protocol.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Phosphorylated-tau associates with HSV-1 chromatin and correlates with nuclear speckles decondensation in low-density host chromatin regions.Neurobiology of disease · 2025Article
- Increased risk of dementia associated with herpes simplex virus infections: Evidence from a retrospective cohort study using U.S. electronic health records.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2025Article
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionHerpesviruses, including Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) and varicella zoster-virus (VZV), have been implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) development. Likewise, antiviral treatment has been suggested to protect against dementia development in herpes-infected individuals.
methodsThe study enrolled 265,172 subjects aged ≥ 50 years, with diagnoses of VZV or HSV, or prescribed antiviral drugs between 31 December 2005 and 31 December 2017. Controls were matched in a 1:1 ratio by sex and birth year.
resultsAntiviral treatment was associated with decreased risk of dementia (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.86 to 0.92), while herpes infection without antiviral drugs increased the risk of dementia (adjusted HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.29 to 1.74). DISCUSSION: Antiviral treatment was associated with a reduced long-term risk of dementia among individuals with overt signs of herpes infection. This is consistent with earlier findings indicating that herpesviruses are involved in the pathogenesis of AD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.