Shingles vaccination not only protects against the disease but may also contribute to slower biological aging in older adults, according to a new USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology study.

Using data from the nationally representative U.S. Health and Retirement Study, researchers examined how shingles vaccination affected several aspects of biological aging in more than 3,800 study participants who were age 70 and older in 2016. Even when controlling for other sociodemographic and health variables, those who received the shingles vaccine showed slower overall biological aging on average in comparison to unvaccinated individuals.

Anne Neilan, MD, MPH, of the Medical Practice Evaluation Center (MPEC) and Department of Medicine at Mass General Brigham, and Kevin Ard, MD, MPH, also of the Department of Medicine, are the lead and senior authors of a paper published in Sexually Transmitted Diseases, “Differences in Sexual Health Clinic Services by Age and Gender in Metropolitan Boston.”

A simple blood test can help detect cancer in patients with non-specific symptoms such as fatigue, pain or weight loss. This is according to a Swedish study from Karolinska Institutet, Danderyd Hospital and others, published in Nature Communications.