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Very common, the vast majority of men have been infected with the varicella zoster virus (VZV) at some point, usually in childhood, in the form of chicken pox. The virus can then lie dormant in the body’s cells and occasionally reactivate, resulting in shingles. According to one study, these people are also more at risk of cardiovascular problems.
According to a study by scientists at Harvard Medical University, people who had shingles, which is a reactivation of the chickenpox virus, have a 30 percent increased risk of developing a long-term cardiovascular problem.
Data from a cohort of over 200,000 people
The scientists looked at data from a cohort of nearly 200,000 people. Data on English health personnel – mainly nurses – enrolled in the first edition of the NHS (National Health Service), in the 1970s and in NHS II, in the following years. “A total of 79,658 women in NHS, 93,932 women in NHS II and 31,440 men in HPFS were included in the analyses, for a total of 205,030 volunteers.“write the authors.
A risk for twelve years after the onset of shingles
The volunteers then report every two years, through questionnaires, their state of health and their diseases. Scientists chose people without cardiovascular problems and those who provided the year of onset of shingles. Cross-referencing these data, the study authors found that 3,603 strokes and 8,620 cardiovascular accidents had occurred.
These pathologies were found more in people who had previously declared shingles. Analyzing the data, there is a 30% increased risk of stroke and cardiovascular problems associated with shingles, which persists up to 12 years after VZV reactivation.
A virus capable of generating inflammation
According to the researchers, the explanation for this increased risk is to be found in the functioning of the VZV virus. It would in fact be able to generate inflammation, being able to replicate itself in the cells that form the arteries. A phenomenon capable of weakening the entire cardiovascular system and therefore favoring the onset of strokes and other cardiovascular pathologies.
However, one limitation of this study is that the data comes from people who have not been vaccinated against shingles. The authors now want to collect new data from vaccinated patients to find out if their initial results are still valid.
