A new study has found a link between untreated depression in older adults and decreased effectiveness of the herpes zoster, or shingles, vaccine.Older adults are known to be at risk for shingles, a painful condition caused by the reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus, researchers said, noting more than 1 million new cases occur each year in the U.S. The vaccine boosts immunity to the virus and can decrease the incidence and severity of the condition.In a two-year study, led by Dr. Michael Irwin at the University of California-Los Angeles, researchers measured the immune responses to the shingles vaccination among 40 subjects aged 60 or older with a major depressive disorder and compared their responses to similar levels in 52 control patients matched by age and gender. Measurements were taken at baseline, then at six weeks, one year, and two years after the patients received the shingles vaccine or a placebo.Depressed patients not being treated with antidepressants had lower cell-mediated immunity to the varicella-zoster virus — and were less able to respond to the shingles vaccine — compared to patients who were not depressed or who were depressed but were receiving treatment with antidepressants, the researchers found.The findings suggest that patients with untreated depression were “poorly protected” by the shingles vaccination, according to Irwin.Depression treatment, on the other hand, boosted cell-mediated immunity and increased the effectiveness of the vaccine, even when the treatment did not lessen depression symptoms, the researchers found. Treating depression appeared to “normalize the immune response to the zoster vaccine” in the study, Irwin said.

via Untreated Depression Linked to Less Effectiveness of Shingles Vaccine | Psych Central News.