Greater effect seen for patients aged 70 years and older at time of bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccination<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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MONDAY, June 12, 2023 (HealthDay News) — The bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine is associated with a significantly lower rate and risk for Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD) among patients with bladder cancer, according to a study published online May 19 in JAMA Network Open<\/em>.<\/p>\n Marc S. Weinberg, M.D., Ph.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues evaluated whether the BCG vaccine (3,388 patients) has a protective association with the risk for ADRD. The analysis included 6,467 patients (aged 50 years and older) initially diagnosed with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer between May 28, 1987, and May 6, 2021. <\/p>\n The researchers found that treatment with the BCG vaccine was associated with a lower rate of ADRD (hazard ratio [HR], 0.80), with an even lower rate of ADRD in patients aged 70 years or older at the time of BCG vaccine treatment (HR, 0.74). The BCG vaccine was associated with a lower risk for ADRD (five-year risk difference, \u00e2\u0088\u00920.011) and a decreased risk for death in patients without an earlier diagnosis of ADRD (five-year risk difference, \u00e2\u0088\u00920.056) in a competing risks analysis.<\/p>\n “In this study, BCG vaccine was associated with a significantly lower rate and risk of ADRD in a cohort of patients with bladder cancer when accounting for death as a competing event. However, the risk differences varied with time,” the authors write. “Clinical trials are required to study its efficacy beyond treatment in patients with bladder cancer.”<\/p>\n Several authors disclosed ties to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.<\/p>\n