Fig. 5: More prominent reduction in the risk of dementia due to vaccination observed in cohorts at higher risk of HZ.
From: Varicella-zoster virus reactivation and the risk of dementia
a,b, Comparing dementia risk (cumulative hazard, y axis) over time (x axis) after (a) exposures of female individuals to the ZVL and (b) exposure of female individuals aged 80–89 years to the RZV showed a substantial association with a decreased dementia risk at 3 and 5 years after index date compared to the PPSV23. The postmatching cohort characteristics for comparisons shown in this figure are presented in Supplementary Table 25. The curves show the Nelson–Aalen estimates of the cumulative hazard function (y axis) over the follow-up period (x axis) with a 95% CI band (shaded areas around each curve) for each cohort being compared. Cumulative hazards at specific time points are compared between the cohorts based on RR using a two-sided chi-squared statistic with 1 degree of freedom without adjusting for multiple comparisons. Superscript letter ‘a’ indicates censored, cumulative numbers of individuals who were lost to follow-up or had died until each time point; superscript letter ‘b’ indicates cumulative numbers of individuals with the event of interest (dementia diagnosis) until each time point. NMD, normalized mean difference; RR, relative risk.
