The chickenpox vaccine appears to protect against shingles, according to a large new analysis.Anyone who got infected with chickenpox as a child is at risk of later developing shingles, a painful, blistering rash that usually appears on one side of the body.
For unknown reasons, cases of shingles have been gradually rising, even among younger adults, research has shown.However, new data suggests that a steep decline in chickenpox cases over the last three decades, thanks to the chickenpox vaccine, may contribute to a decline in shingles in the coming years.New data suggests that people ages 34 and younger may be less likely to develop shingles than previous generations.That’s because they are more likely to have been vaccinated against the varicella zoster virus, or chickenpox, which can reactivate years later as shingles.“Our data suggest that trend is now reversing in the very youngest adults, the first generation eligible to be vaccinated against chickenpox as children,” said registered nurse Kersten Bartelt, lead author of the report from Epic Research, which conducts research on health trends.Epic researchers used electronic health data from more than 85 million patients seen by healthcare providers in the United States.
They logged shingles diagnoses between 2019 and 2026 and how many cases occurred in different age groups.The report, which was released Friday, found:Shingles cases dropped from 10.8 to 7.3 per 10,000 people for women ages 30 to 34 between 2019 and 2026, and fell from 11 to 7.3 for men in the same age group.Among 25- to 29-year-olds, rates of shingles cases more than halved, from 7.7 per 10,000 women and 7.5 per 10,000 men in 2019 to 3.2 and 3.0, respectively.In 18- to 24-year-olds, shingles dropped from 2.9 to 1.6 per 10,000 women and from 2.7 to 2.4 per 10,000 men.It’s a promising development, though because shingles is typically rare in people younger than 50, the data can’t prove whether the protection will last as they age, B...