Getting vaccinated against shingles may not only lower risk for the condition — it may offer some protection against dementia, a new study suggests.

And over the past couple of years, observational studies have suggested that the vaccine against shingles may have a protective effect. But it's extremely difficult to do a clinical trial given that the onset of dementia may happen decades after most people first receive the shingles vaccine.

It’s been shown that reactivation of the chickenpox virus can lead to the accumulation of aberrant proteins associated with Alzheimer’s.