Recombinant Shingles Vaccine Linked to Reduced Cardiovascular Risk

The recombinant shingles vaccine was associated with a 9% reduction in overall cardiovascular burden over 7 years among adults aged 60 years or older, based on a natural experiment that reduced confounding from existing studies comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. Researchers compared adults vaccinated immediately before versus immediately after the rapid US transition from the live attenuated to the recombinant shingles vaccine. The recombinant vaccine was associated with a 10% lower burden of ischemic heart disease and a 12% lower burden of heart failure in both sexes, as well as a 12% lower burden of ischemic stroke among men; atrial fibrillation was also associated with a 7% lower burden. The associations weakened over time and were not observed for other cardiac, peripheral, or cerebrovascular outcomes. These findings support further clinical trials and mechanistic studies to determine whether shingles vaccination may have cardioprotective effects. Source: https://www.nature.com/