Influenza Vaccination and Dementia Risk; an Unanticipated Benefit?

Alzheimer's disease (AD) characterized by cognitive decline and dementia has evolved into source of extreme concern globally, often associated with functional dependence and financial instability before progressing to complete degeneration of neural and motor skills. Despite multiple interventions being available, only few have been able to show clinical efficacy, others not meeting satisfactory efficacy endpoints as more options are being explored. According to various studies, influenza vaccines have shown clinical evidence in being effective against reduction in dementia risk. Multiple large-scale cohort studies are being conducted to test the effectiveness of vaccinations against dementia. Some of them have shown significant results, establishing a statistically significant relationship between vaccinations and a reduction in symptomatology in already diagnosed dementia patients. These vaccines offer lower-cost, low-risk mechanism of prevention of dementia with better outcomes than pre-existing vaccines. However, there is a need of more large-scale retrospective studies and randomized trials, with longer follow-ups, to be conducted to assess the safety and consistent efficacy of this strategy.