What Are the Risk Factors For Shingles?

Having had chickenpox
Increasing age


A weakened immune (defense) system caused by such things as cancer and certain drugs


Who Is Affected by Shingles?

It is estimated that in the United States up to 1 million cases of Shingles occur every year. As you can see from the bar graph below, Shingles increases with age. Of these 1,000,000 cases, 40% to 50% occur in people 60 years of age and older.
As the population ages, the number of cases of Shingles will most likely increase.