Association between shingles vaccination and slower biological aging: evidence from a US population-based cohort study

Abstract

There is growing interest in whether adult vaccines such as shingles vaccine may slow biological aging beyond preventing acute infections. Using data from the nationally representative US Health and Retirement Study, we examined whether shingles vaccination is associated with more favorable profiles across 7 biological aging domains: inflammation, innate and adaptive immunity, cardiovascular hemodynamics, neurodegeneration, and epigenetic and transcriptomic aging, as well as a composite biological aging score. Analyses included adults aged ≥ 70 in 2016 (n=3884), with biological measures drawn from venous blood, flow cytometry, and physical assessments. Weighted linear regressions adjusted for sociodemographic and health covariates. Shingles vaccination was significantly associated with lower inflammation scores (b=−0.14, p=.0027), slower epigenetic (b=−0.17, p=.0001) and transcriptomic aging (b=−0.19, p