A new study revealed that shingles and the development of rash that comes with it signifies a 63 percent likelihood of experiencing a stroke.
According to study author and senior lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Dr. Sinead Langan, a patient's highest risk of having a stroke comes with the first month after he or she experiences shingles. People affected with shingles have a 300 percent higher risk of having stroke if the rash appears around the eye or both of them.
The study focused on 6,584 stroke patients who also have shingles. These were randomly sampled out of a database of over 600 general practices clinics across United Kingdom. The researchers then juxtaposed the time of the stroke against the timeline of the shingles' development. Results showed that during the first four weeks of having shingles, the patient's risk of having stroke increases by 63 percent. However, the risk slowly decreases over the weeks; 42 percent decrease during the fifth week and 23 percent decrease after six months.
The study did not prove that shingles directly causes strokes, rather, it found out an association between the stroke and viral infection.
"We found that the risk of stroke was lower in people who were treated with antiviral medications for their shingles, compared with those not treated with antivirals," Dr. Langan told Healthday News. "That hasn't been shown before, that treating with antivirals might make a difference."
Dr. Langan and Dr. Maria Nagel, an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine explained two ways in which a shingles virus can increase the risk of having a stroke. First, the virus can take over the blood vessels, making it likelier for them to rupture or become clogged. Secondly, shingles cause inflammation throughout the body that can cause the arterial plaques to break, and when this happens, a stroke may occur.
This study was published in the April 4 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.
