Shingles linked to increased risk of heart attack, stroke

The stroke risk is more than double-fold in the first week soon after the shingles diagnosis, said the researchers.

This is not the first study to look at a link between shingles and cardiovascular events.

“There did appear to be a small increased risk for heart attack, but when you take other risk factors into consideration, it disappears”, they noted. But so far, the elevation appears to be only temporary, as it goes back to normal levels within six months.

Researchers believe the risk is most likely due to biological effects from the shingles infection.

Almost two-thirds were women and around 90% were whites. They then calculated age-adjusted incidence ratios for stroke and MI during pre-defined periods up to 12 months after a diagnosis of zoster relative to time periods when the patient did not have recent zoster (the baseline period).

While varcella zoster is found dormant in about 95 percent of adults, and shingles occurs in about one of every three, a vaccine does now exist and provides a degree of protection against it (around 60 percent). The biggest jump of more than a two-fold rise was witnessed in the first week. But very few people in the study had received the shingles vaccine, so the researchers could not assess whether it may have affected their risk of a cardiovascular event.

Minassian said that the possible reason could be higher level of inflammation in the body linked with a viral infection or blood vessel damage. “Acute increases in blood pressure relating to shingles-associated pain or stress may also play a role”.

The researchers looked at data on more than 137,000 Medicare beneficiaries (all of whom were ages 65 or older) who had been diagnosed with shingles. Out of that group, researchers found that there were 24,236 heart attack cases and 42,952 stroke cases. Study results indicated that stroke risk “significantly” rose for up to three months immediately following a shingles diagnosis, with the largest bump (more than twofold increase in risk) occurring during week one itself.

People participating in the study who had, had shingles, a disease that the herpes zoster virus causes, faced an increased risk of 2.4-fold of suffering a stroke and of 1.7-fold of suffering a heart attack during the first week after the diagnosis of shingles according to findings that were published on December 15 in PLOS Medicine. By week 27, the risk returned to baseline.

“The study highlights when patients with shingles may be most vulnerable”, study author Caroline Minassian, a research fellow in the faculty of epidemiology and population health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in England, said reported by HealthDay.

Yawn and colleagues included adults aged 50 years and older with a confirmed episode of shingles between January 1, 1986 and October 1, 2011.

“We’re starting to think that zoster, or shingles, may not be just a neurological disease, but it may be a systemic disease”, Yawn said in a Mayo Clinic Proceedings video interview.

Disseminated zoster, which is a blistery rash that spreads over a large portion of the body and can affect the heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, joints, and intestinal tract. It is more common in older adults and those with weak immune systems, but anyone who has had chickenpox can develop shingles.