ArticleAnnals of clinical and translational neurology2022
No evidence that herpes zoster is associated with increased risk of dementia diagnosis.
Article in Annals of clinical and translational neurology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07399288 (Postherpetic Neuralgia After Herpes Zoster and Risk of Incident Dementia), which is not on this map. Cited by 18 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
Postherpetic Neuralgia After Herpes Zoster and Risk of Incident Dementia: Real-World Evidence From an International Matched Cohort With Landmark Analysis
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 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
- Association between herpes zoster and Parkinson's disease and dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Pooled it
- Varicella zoster virus and the central nervous system.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- Reduced risk of dementia with recombinant zoster vaccine in US adults age 65 or older.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Herpes zoster vaccination and cognitive disorders in older adults.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Can we refute a role for infections in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis?Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- What would it take to prove that a chronic infection is a causal agent in Alzheimer's disease?Trends in neurosciences · 2025Review
- Lower risk of dementia with AS01-adjuvanted vaccination against shingles and respiratory syncytial virus infections.NPJ vaccines · 2025Article
- Herpes zoster as risk factor for dementia: a matched cohort study over 20 years in a 10-million population in Italy.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · 2025Article
- The Association Between Herpes Zoster, Antiherpetic Therapies, and Alzheimer's Disease: A Comprehensive Systematic Review.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Herpes zoster and long-term risk of subjective cognitive decline.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2024Article
- Assessing Risk Factors for Cognitive Decline Using Electronic Health Record Data: A Scoping Review.Research square · 2024Article
- The associations of herpes simplex virus and varicella zoster virus infection with dementia: a nationwide retrospective cohort study.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2024Article
- Risk of dementia following herpes zoster infection among patients undertreatment versus those not: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Health science reports · 2024Article
- Herpes Zoster and Risk of Incident Parkinson's Disease in US Veterans: A Matched Cohort Study.Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2024Article
- The association of herpes zoster and influenza vaccinations with the risk of developing dementia: a population-based cohort study within the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Hospital-Diagnosed Infections, Autoimmune Diseases, and Subsequent Dementia Incidence.JAMA network open · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate whether herpes zoster (HZ) was associated with subsequent increased risk of dementia diagnosis.
methodsWe conducted a historical cohort study using primary care electronic health records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink in the United Kingdom. Individuals with incident HZ aged ≥40 years from 2000 to 2017 were matched with up to four individuals without HZ by age, sex, primary care practise and calendar time. The primary outcome was a new diagnosis of all-cause dementia. We used the Cox proportional hazards regression adjusting for demographic, lifestyle and clinical confounders to assess any association between HZ and dementia. We investigated interactions with sex, frailty index and antiviral treatment and conducted various sensitivity analyses.
resultsThe cohort comprised 177,144 individuals with HZ and 706,901 matched unexposed individuals (median age 65 years (IQR 55.1-75.0), 40% male) followed for a median duration of 4.6 years (IQR 2.0-8.1). In total, 26,585 (3%) patients had an incident dementia diagnosis recorded and 113,056 patients died (12.8%). HZ was associated with a small reduction in dementia diagnosis (adjusted HR 0.92 (95% CI 0.89-0.95)), occurring predominantly in frail individuals and females. For patients who were fit (578,115, 65%), no association was seen (adjusted HR 0.97, 95% CI 0.92-1.02). There was no association between HZ and a composite outcome of dementia or death (adjusted HR 1.00, 95% CI 0.99-1.02). Dementia risk did not vary by prescription of antiviral agents. Sensitivity analyses showed consistent results.
interpretationHZ was not associated with increased dementia diagnosis in a UK primary care-based cohort.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.