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Flu vaccination linked to 40% reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease

(www.uth.edu)
231 points cachecrab | 2 comments | 27 Jun 22 19:45 UTC | HN request time: 0.404s | source
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jeffreportmill1 ◴[27 Jun 22 21:10 UTC] No.31900851[source]▶
Possible alternate title: "People with early onset Alzheimer's frequently forget to get flu shots".
replies(1): >>31901480 #
1. ac29 ◴[27 Jun 22 22:06 UTC] No.31901480[source]▶
Given that >90% of non-vaccinated patients did not get a Alzheimer's diagnosis, this seems wrong.
replies(1): >>31903449 #
2. Jensson ◴[28 Jun 22 02:28 UTC] No.31903449[source]▶
Why? You got many people who don't want to get a flu shot for other reasons. But if lets say Alzheimer's makes the people who normally gets it forget to go, then that would greatly skew how many with very early Alzheimer's gets flu shot, making it look like flu shots "protects" against Alzheimer's.

And no, checking whether they had it beforehand doesn't help, it starts to develop many years before its symptoms are so strong that you identify them as Alzheimer's, forgetting rare and optional appointments certainly wouldn't be enough to say it is Alzheimer's yet. That is why scoring well on an IQ test also "protects against Alzheimer", it isn't that the IQ test protects you, it is that the IQ test can detect effects of Alzheimer's before a diagnosis can see it.