More Evidence Against MMR Vaccine Autism Link
Friday, February 8, 2008 2:34
A new study out of the UK examined the prevalence of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination, abnormal immune response and developmental regression in children with autism spectrum disorders as compared to kids with other special education needs, and those developing normally. The study looked at 250 children between the ages of 10-12 in Southern England. Among these children, 98 had an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 52 had special educational needs, but not ASD, and 90 children were developing normally.
When researchers looked at immunizations status, they found that the children with normal development were actually more likely to have received a second dose of the MMR vaccine. In addition, when they looked at blood samples for the presence of measles virus or abnormal antibody levels which could indicate and abnormal response to the vaccine, they found no difference between the different groups, even in kids who had shown a developmental regression.
According to the authors, this is the largest recent study which has failed to find a link between autism and the MMR vaccine. The overall prevalence of autism spectrum disorders among kids in the area of Souther England studied was between 1 in 166 and 1 in 84 depending on the exact diagnostic criteria used.
Reference: G Baird, A Pickles, E Simonoff, T Charman, P Sullivan, S Chandler, T Loucas, D Meldrum, M Afzal, B Thomas, L Jin, D Brown.Measles vaccination and antibody response in autism spectrum disorders. Archives of Disease in Childhood. 2008 doi:10.1136/adc.2007.122937.
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