Herpes Zoster Increases the Risk of Stroke and Myocardial Infarction

“While these findings require further study into the mechanism that causes shingles patients to have an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, it is important that physicians treating these patients make them aware of their increased risk.”

“This study and other studies suggest that randomized clinical trials with a shingles vaccine should be done in people under the age of 60 to determine if the vaccine can prevent stroke and heart attack with that group.”

“This study adds the strong evidence of causal relationship between shingles and cardiovascular diseases in terms of strength of association, its specificity, and the temporal relationship.”