Pascal Geldsetzer

A natural experiment on the effect of herpes zoster vaccination on dementia - Nature Using a natural experiment that avoids common bias concerns, this study finds that the live-attenuated shingles vaccine reduced the probability of a new dementia diagnosis within a follow-up period of...

Our paper on the effect of herpes zoster vaccination on dementia is now out in Nature! 🎉

Huge thanks to Felix Michalik, Seunghun Chung, @pascalge.bsky.social and especially Min Xie (@minxiesci.bsky.social) & Simon Heß (@hesss.org) making the analysis so much fun!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This very cool paper is out today in Nature. It makes the strongest case yet that the shingles vaccine can lower risks of developing dementia. It was supported by multiple NIH grants.

We first covered it as a preprint back during a quieter time for US science:

www.statnews.com/2024/10/18/d...

@alzassociation.bsky.social @alzheimerssoc.bsky.social @curealzheimersfund.bsky.social @fishercenterbard.bsky.social @neurosciencenews.bsky.social @brightfocus.bsky.social

@czbiohub.bsky.social @uniheidelberg.bsky.social @societyforepi.bsky.social @gatesfoundation.bsky.social @openphil.bsky.social @alexanderberger.bsky.social @arnoldventures.bsky.social @johnarnoldfndtn.bsky.social @wellcometrust.bsky.social @jarottingen.bsky.social

What’s next? We want to run a randomized clinical trial. This relies on philanthropy because we want to trial a version of the old shingles vaccine (that’s what we’ve all the evidence for!), which is no longer being manufactured. Reach out if you want to help fund!

We see the same protective effect in dataset after dataset from different countries that rolled out the shingles vaccine in similar ways --> this can’t just be a chance finding!

Other studies have all compared people who go get vaccinated to those who don’t --> these are folk with very different health behaviors. So, what you get then is much more likely to be biased.

You take 1,000 people born one week and 1,000 born just a week later --> no reason to think that they should differ in their health behaviors 🏃‍♀️🧑‍🍳. So, we have beauuutiful comparison groups. This is an opportunity to get at cause and effect!

What’s so special about our study? In Wales, if your 80th birthday was just b4 the start date of the shingles vax program, you were ineligible. If it was just after, you could get the shot. Just a week’s difference in age means your chances of getting vaxxed jump from 0 to 50%!

Geldsetzer Lab Recent Discovery Using unique natural experiments that avoid common biases, Pascal Geldsetzer and his team found that shingles vaccination has a large protective effect for dementia. The first study from his group was published in Nature in April 2025: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08800-x. His team is now trying to raise funds from private foundations and philanthropy to conclusively test this link in a randomized clinical trial. They want to trial a version of the old live-attenuated shingles vaccine, which is no longer being manufactured. If you are interested in helping to fund this effort, please reach out to pgeldsetzer@stanford.edu This video was directed by Stanford's Global Health Media Innovation Lab. Animation by Janine Van Schoor (janinevanschoor@gmail.com). Sound design by Misha Seeff @mishaseeff

Shingles vax appears to prevent dementia! Our Nature paper is first of many from my group to show this. We use a really neat natural experiment to provide causal (not just correlational!) evidence. Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...; video (👏 @DrMayaAdam): bit.ly/4ciRfLh

Huge thanks to my postdocs @meyting.bsky.social , @minxiesci.bsky.social & Seunghun Chung; PhD student Felix Michalik; and co-author @hesss.org
#dementia #Alzheimers #shingles #epitwitter #econtwitter #neurotwitter #NeuroTwitterNetwork #Neuroscience