Effect of the herpes zoster vaccine on health outcomes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The effect of the herpes zoster vaccine on cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases
IRAS ID
329523
Contact name
Simon Sawhney
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Aberdeen
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
A first infection with the varicella zoster virus manifests as chickenpox, after which the virus remains “hibernated” in nerve cells in the body and can break out occasionally to cause shingles. Shingles in people who are elderly or immunocompromised can be serious, and sometimes life-threatening. The virus has also recently been linked with the potential development of inflamed blood vessels (in the heart and brain), but the consequences of this are uncertain. This means that shingles may have a greater role in the deterioration of health in elderly people than is currently recognised. There is an effective vaccine to reduce the chance of getting shingles. As shingles is known to be an important and preventable condition, since 2013 the vaccine has been available to everyone in Scotland, England and Wales aged 70 - 79 through a progressive rollout. The benefits of this policy across all groups of people, and consequences both for shingles and other conditions also linked to the virus in the elderly are uncertain. It would not be feasible to test this through a randomised controlled trial because the policy was widespread and occurred 10 years ago, but studying the consequences of this policy remains important to understand the implications of shingles prevention, and to learn for future policies involving widespread population rollouts. In fact, the specific practicalities of this particular annual roll out led to a “birthday paradox” each year where some people become eligible and others do not despite having a difference in age of just a few days. This means that while a trial is not possible, it is possible, using advanced statistical methods, to use “pseudo”-randomisation approaches that our team have successfully applied to health research to address this need.
REC name
South Central - Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/SC/0189
Date of REC Opinion
28 May 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion