The chickenpox vaccine appears to protect against shingles, according to a large new analysis.
Anyone who got chickenpox as a child is at risk of developing shingles, a painful, blistering rash that usually appears on one side of the body. Research shows that for unknown reasons, shingles cases are gradually increasing, even among young people.
However, new data suggests that a sharp decline in chickenpox cases over the past three decades, thanks to the chickenpox vaccine, may help reduce shingles in the coming years.
New data suggests people 34 and younger are less likely to develop shingles than previous generations. This is because they are more likely to have been vaccinated against the varicella-zoster virus, or chickenpox, which can reactivate into shingles years later.
“Our data suggest that this trend is reversing among the youngest adults, who are the first generation eligible to receive the chickenpox vaccine as children,” said Kersten Bartelt, RN, lead author of the report from Epic Research, a company that studies health trends.
Epic researchers used electronic health data from more than 85 million patients seen by U.S. health care providers. They recorded shingles diagnoses between 2019 and 2026 and the number of cases that occurred by age group.
The report was released on Friday, Established:
- Between 2019 and 2026, shingles cases fell from 10.8 to 7.3 cases per 10,000 in women aged 30 to 34 years, and from 11 to 7.3 cases per 10,000 in men in the same age group.
- Among people aged 25 to 29, the incidence of shingles has more than halved, from 7.7 cases per 10,000 women and 7.5 cases per 10,000 men in 2019 to 3.2 and 3.0 cases per 10,000 men.
- Among women ages 18 to 24, shingles cases fell from 2.9 to 1.6 cases per 10,000 women and from 2.7 to 2.4 cases per 10,000 men.
That’s a promising development, but because shingles is generally rare in people under 50, the data can’t prove whether the protection continues with age, Bertelt said.
Still, new data suggests chickenpox vaccination may have lifelong benefits.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first varicella vaccine in 1995 and added it to the childhood vaccination schedule. In 1997, states began requiring schools and day care centers to use it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends two doses of varicella vaccine for children ages 1 to 6 years old.
Since then, infections have plummeted 97%, according to the CDC. Vaccination has all but eliminated chickenpox, a herpes virus that once killed 150 children a year, experts say.
“People who have been infected with the chickenpox virus are at higher risk of developing shingles,” said Dr. Sharon Curhan, a physician and epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, who was not involved in the study. “While it is possible for vaccinated people to get shingles, the risk is much lower.”
Why are Millennials getting more shingles?
Epic data also shows that shingles rates are rising among people ages 35 and older, who are more likely to have had chickenpox as children.
Experts say there’s no clear evidence yet of what’s causing the rise in this group, but ironically it may be related to the near-annihilation of the varicella-zoster virus.
“Prior to the vaccine, parents and grandparents in their 20s, 30s, 40s were exposed to young children with chickenpox, so this is like a booster dose for them,” Culhane said.
Other potential causes are higher rates of chronic stress, depression and anxiety, and autoimmune diseases that weaken the immune system, Culhane said.
Shingles and chickenpox usually clear up on their own within a few weeks, although the viruses that cause both infections can cause serious complications, said Dr. Anne Gershon, professor emeritus of pediatrics at Columbia University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study.
The most common is severe, long-term nerve pain, a condition called postherpetic neuralgia. If a shingles outbreak occurs near the eyes, it can cause blindness, Bartelt said.
Shingles infection is also associated with a 20 percent increased risk of cognitive decline, possibly because the virus can reactivate in the head rather than causing a rash, and there is also an increased risk of stroke and heart disease, Gershon said.