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A comment on Causal evidence that Alzheimer's may be caused by an infection.

Re:Causal evidence that Alzheimer's may be caused by an infe... by PeterWhittaker on Friday May 26, 2023 @10:19AM (#36084512)
Summary: Wales used a cutoff date in 1933 to set eligibility for the vaccine: born before, ineligible; born after, eligible. The authors analyzed dementia rates in the populations born one week before and one week after and found a significant decrease in the vaccination population born one week after.

Given the unlikelihood of any other salient differences in the two populations (they were all born within 14 days of each other), they conclude that the vaccine had prophylactic effects against dementia and further conclude that Alzheimer’s may be caused by a virus.

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Re:Causal evidence that Alzheimer's may be caused by an infe... by ZooCow on Friday May 26, 2023 @10:25AM (#36084578)
The vaccine was the shingles vaccine and it was administered in 2013.
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Re:Causal evidence that Alzheimer's may be caused by an infe... by wrycoder on Friday May 26, 2023 @11:31AM (#36085491)
Only in women, per the tweets.
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Re:Causal evidence that Alzheimer's may be caused by an infe... by Filligree on Friday May 26, 2023 @11:59AM (#36085886)
Women get Alzheimer at a much higher rate, and it's not clear why. Perhaps this could be related.
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Re:Causal evidence that Alzheimer's may be caused by an infe... by telebell on Friday May 26, 2023 @10:11PM (#36091441)
Maybe because they have longer life expectancies and are less likely than men to die in most (all?) age brackets? Their husbands have died of heart disease before they get Alzheimer’s.
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Re:Causal evidence that Alzheimer's may be caused by an infe... by bagacrap on Friday May 26, 2023 @11:38PM (#36091874)
Those sound like easy variables to control when you're trying to determine which sex is more affected.
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Re:Causal evidence that Alzheimer's may be caused by an infe... by _maelstrom on Sunday May 28, 2023 @08:53PM (#36109389)
This would make sense if Alzheimer's turns out to be an autoimmune disorder. Women have higher rates of these types of diseases because the largest number of immune related genes are found on the X-chromosome, giving them a broader variety to their immune arsenal. So women are better able to fight off infections but more likely to suffer from overactive immune responses.

A summary with some links: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/women-have-stronger-i...

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