No evidence that herpes zoster is associated with increased risk of dementia diagnosis

Bibliographic Details
Title: No evidence that herpes zoster is associated with increased risk of dementia diagnosis
Authors: Charlotte Warren‐Gash, Elizabeth Williamson, Suhail I. Shiekh, James Borjas‐Howard, Neil Pearce, Judith M. Breuer, Liam Smeeth
Source: Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, Vol 9, Iss 3, Pp 363-374 (2022)
Publisher Information: Wiley, 2022.
Publication Year: 2022
Collection: LCC:Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
LCC:Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system
Subject Terms: Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry, RC321-571, Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system, RC346-429
More Details: Abstract Objective To investigate whether herpes zoster (HZ) was associated with subsequent increased risk of dementia diagnosis. Methods We 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. Results The 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. Interpretation HZ was not associated with increased dementia diagnosis in a UK primary care‐based cohort.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2328-9503
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/2328-9503
DOI: 10.1002/acn3.51525
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/24ae6b5ff2514e5cb33bcb6bb82045b7
Accession Number: edsdoj.24ae6b5ff2514e5cb33bcb6bb82045b7
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:23289503
DOI:10.1002/acn3.51525
Published in:Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology
Language:English