New evidence bolsters the case that getting a shingles vaccine not only reduces the risk of herpes zoster infection but also appears to reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications of shingles.

Both heart attack and stroke are more common in patients who have had shingles, and previous research has suggested that preventing shingles can also lower the risk of those cardiovascular complications. However, there is relatively little evidence looking at the cardiovascular benefits of the recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) rather than its live-attenuated predecessor.

Writing in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases , corresponding author Emily Rayens, Ph.D., M.P.H., of Kaiser Permanente Southern California, and her colleagues noted that the risk of severe shingles increases with age,

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