Shingles can contribute to an increased risk in heart disease: Study

BOSTON: A new study, conducted by the researchers and Brigham & Women's Hospital has no revealed, after much speculation, that Shingles could be associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease.

The findings of this research revealed that individuals who have a history of being diagnosed with shingles were around 30% more likely to have a consequential stroke or develop coronary heart disease (CVD).

Additionally, patients with Shingles are more likely to experience Cardiovascular diseases for twelve years or more.

A total of 205,030 people were involved in this study. A cohort study included 79,658 women, from the Nurses Health Study, 93,932 women from the Nurses Health study II, and around 31,440 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

The study’s lead author, Dr Sharon E Curhan, is an epidemiologist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She explained that as a result of her study, she was able to prove that patients with a former diagnosis of Shingles were at 38% higher risk of heart disease or stroke, than those that did not have Shingles.

“It seems from that from the data, the risk sort of peaks somewhere in the 5 to 12 year range, but perhaps it may persist thereafter. The findings were surprising both due to the magnitude of the elevated risk and the long duration of time that the risk remained elevated” She explained.