The Journal of the American Medical Association published a new study based on over 95,000 subjects that concluded there was no link between vaccines and autism. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday:
On the heels of a measles outbreak in California fueled by vaccination fears that scientists call unfounded, another large study has shown no link between the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and autism.
The study examined insurance claims for 96,000 U.S. children born between 2001 and 2007, and found that those who received MMR vaccine didn’t develop autism at a higher rate than unvaccinated children, according to results published Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA. Even children who had older siblings with autism—a group considered at high risk for the disorder—didn’t have increased odds of developing autism after receiving the vaccine, compared with unvaccinated children with autistic older siblings.
“These findings indicate no harmful association between MMR vaccine receipt and ASD even among children already at higher risk for ASD,” the researchers wrote, using the acronym for autism spectrum disorders. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services.....
The study’s authors analyzed insurance claims from the Optum Research Database, which is run by a unit of insurance giant UnitedHealth Group Inc. They identified 96,000 children in the database with older siblings, and determined how many of those children and older siblings had received autism diagnoses on claims forms. They also used the claim forms to determine whether the children had received MMR vaccine, and compared autism rates in the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups as a whole, and in children with older siblings with and without autism.
Fred Volkmar, an autism expert at the Child Study Center at Yale University School of Medicine, said the study benefited from a large sample size and “well done analyses.” In an email, he said he hoped the study would “contribute to putting to rest the myth that immunizations cause autism!”...Rest of article.
The actual study can be found here. Here are some excerpts from the study:
In this large sample of privately insured children with older siblings, receipt of the MMR vaccine was not associated with increased risk of ASD, regardless of whether older siblings had ASD. These findings indicate no harmful association between MMR vaccine receipt and ASD even among children already at higher risk for ASD.....
Families with a child affected by ASD may be particularly concerned about reports linking MMR and ASD, despite the lack of evidence.10 Surveys of parents who have children with ASD suggest that many believe the MMR vaccine was a contributing cause.11 This belief, combined with knowing that younger siblings of children with ASD are already at higher genetic risk for ASD compared with the general population,12- 14 might prompt these parents to avoid vaccinating their younger children. In a recent survey of 486 parents of children with ASD, nearly 20% had declined or delayed MMR immunization in the younger siblings of these children.15 Furthermore, a Canadian study of 98 younger siblings of children with ASD found that younger siblings were less likely to be fully MMR immunized when compared with their older siblings with ASD. However, there were no statistically significant differences in rates of ASD diagnosis between immunized and nonimmunized children.10 To our knowledge, this very small study is alone in examining MMR immunization and ASD outcomes among the younger siblings of children with ASD.
Thus, we set out to report on ASD occurrence by MMR vaccine status in a large sample of US children having older siblings with ASD and to compare findings with those among children who have older siblings without ASD.....
Out of 95 727 children in the cohort, 1929 (2.01%) had an older sibling with ASD. Overall, 994 (1.04%) children in the cohort had ASD diagnosed during follow-up. Among those who had an older sibling with ASD, 134 (6.9%) were diagnosed with ASD, compared with 860 (0.9%) diagnosed with ASD among those with siblings without ASD (P < .001). The MMR vaccination rate (≥1 dose) for the children with unaffected siblings (siblings without ASD) was 84% (n = 78 564) at 2 years and 92% (n = 86 063) at age 5 years. In contrast, the MMR vaccination rates for children with older siblings with ASD were lower (73% at age 2 years [n = 1409] and 86% [n = 1660] at age 5 years)....
In general, adjusted 1-dose RR estimates were closer to the null than unadjusted estimates and none of the 1-dose RR estimates at any age were statistically significant. At age 2 years, the adjusted RR of ASD for those receiving 1 dose of MMR compared with those not receiving vaccine was 0.91 (95% CI, 0.67-1.20; P = .50) among children with unaffected siblings and 0.76 (95% CI, 0.49-1.18; P = .22) among children whose older siblings had ASD. At age 5 years, the adjusted RR of ASD for the same comparisons of 1 MMR dose vs no vaccine was 1.10 (95% CI, 0.76-1.54; P = .58) and 0.92 (95% CI, 0.58-1.44; P = .71). There appeared to be a similar influence of adjustment on the 2-dose RR estimates at age 5 years. The adjusted 2-dose RR estimate in children with affected older siblings was 0.56 (95% CI, 0.31-1.01; P = .052) while in children with unaffected older siblings the adjusted 2-dose RR was 1.12 (95% CI, 0.78-1.59; P = .55....
Consistent with studies in other populations,2- 4 we observed no association between MMR vaccination and increased ASD risk among privately insured children. We also found no evidence that receipt of either 1 or 2 doses of MMR vaccination was associated with an increased risk of ASD among children who had older siblings with ASD. As the prevalence of diagnosed ASD increases, so does the number of children who have siblings diagnosed with ASD, a group of children who are particularly important as they were undervaccinated in our observations as well as in previous reports.10,15...
5 comments:
Here come the crazies. This should be good.
Please don't overstate the case. The study found no link between MMR vaccine and autism. To be sure, I think that's a very good thing.
Great. Parents should still have the right to refuse vaccinations for their kids, or at least modify the schedule to reduce their impact.
Yeah, and I should have the right to drive on the left side of the road. Anti-Vaccers, please go back to the Middle Ages where you belong.
Parents can refuse vaccines or modify the schedules by working with the doctor but they can't go to school or daycare without the immunizations. There lies the rub.
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