A large real world TriNetX analysis reports an association between antiviral treatment for oral or mucocutaneous HSV and lower rates of Alzheimer disease and dementia
If you’ve missed this must-read March JDD article, it’s time to take a look. A retrospective cohort study using the TriNetX research network examined more than 600,000 individuals with herpes simplex virus infection and compared those who received antiviral therapy with matched untreated patients. After excluding people with prior Alzheimer disease or other major neurologic events, the analysis found that antiviral treatment for oral or mucocutaneous HSV was associated with a statistically lower risk of Alzheimer disease and of dementia. No similar association was observed for anogenital HSV.
The authors report relative risks indicating roughly a 13 to 17 percent reduction in these outcomes among treated patients. Therapies evaluated included acyclovir, valacyclovir, famciclovir and related antivirals. The analysis used propensity matching to balance key covariates, but it is observational and cannot establish causality.
For practicing dermatology clinicians and dermatology HCPs, the findings highlight a possible link between antiviral management of HSV and longer term neurologic outcomes that may be relevant when counseling patients or coordinating care.
Read the full JDD article for cohort selection, analytic methods, subgroup data, and the authors discussion of limitations and implications for future prospective research.
J Drugs Dermatol. 2026;25(3). doi:10.36849/JDD.9474
Blog write-up assisted by AI
