A large-scale new study finds that children who receive the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine
are not at increased risk of developing autism, which includes symptoms that are sometimes Children considered to be in the “high-risk” group for neurodevelopmental disorders.
The new study, published today (March 4) in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, is the largest of its kind to date. Researchers looked at records of 657,000 children born in Denmark between 1999 and 2010, including 6,500 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects a person's ability to communicate, interact and behave appropriately in social situations. Research shows that as much as before, Anders Heved, a senior researcher at the Department of Epidemiological Research at the Serum Institute in Copenhagen, said, "[Caregivers] should not choose not to be vaccinated because Punishing link between MMR (vaccines) and autism “There is indeed strong scientific evidence that there is no link,” [Beyond Vaccines: 5 Things That May Really Cause Autism]” ,"
"The idea that the measles component of the MMR vaccine may be linked to autism began with a small, now-retracted study published in The Lancet in 1998. investigated 12 children with developmental delays, eight of whom had autism. Since then, the lead researcher has had several conflicts of interest: He was paid by a law firm. Suo wants to sue the vaccine maker, who holds a patent for a "safer" measles vaccine that he developed before the study was conducted in 1998, according to a 2011 report in the British Medical Journal Studies have found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism, including a large 2002 study by Hviid and colleagues in the New England Journal of Medicine; the study looked at 537,000 people born in Denmark between 1991 and 1998. children. But after the study was published, Hviid heard from concerned parents and so-called anti-vaxxers who questioned whether "susceptible" children were at risk of developing autism after receiving the MMR vaccine. p> "We saw an opportunity to revisit this association in the same setting, but with new children," Hviid told LiveScience. We also looked at how to address some of the criticisms of the original study.
What they looked at in the new study
In addition to looking at the big picture (whether the MMR vaccine increases the risk of autism in all children), the researchers also looked at whether the vaccine increased the risk in: : boys, girls, children who will develop "regressive autism" when they grow up and children whose siblings have autism (the condition is partly hereditary, so these children are already more autistic than the general public
The scientists also looked at an individual's year of birth to see whether other childhood vaccines were associated with an increased risk of autism for each child who received the MMR vaccine, the researchers reported in the study. The factors were all based on the children's disease risk scores. The researchers found that none of the subgroups who received the MMR vaccine showed an increased risk of autism. Interestingly, the researchers reported that the vaccine was even associated with those born between 1999 and 2001. Girls linked to slightly lower risk of autism in children What increases autism risk
“It’s unclear what biological mechanisms cause autism. But the study did find which groups were most at risk for autism: boys, children born more recently (from 2008 to 2010), children who were not vaccinated early, and, as mentioned, those with autistic siblings child. Other risk factors include older parents, low birth weight, premature birth and maternal smoking during pregnancy. [7 Ways Pregnant Women Affect Their Babies]
The study was a "well-conducted investigation," said A.J. Drexel Autism Research Assistant Professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia. "Other previous research has shown that taking the MMR vaccine does not increase the risk of autism in children," said Christine Lyle, who was not involved in the study.
The study also makes the "important contribution that MMR vaccination is not associated with autism, even in a group with increased susceptibility to autism," Lyall told Live Science in an email .
In an editorial accompanying the study, Dr. Saad Omer, a professor at the Emory Vaccine Center at Emory University in Atlanta who was not involved in the study, said , the need to counter anti-vaccination ideas comes at a cost. While large epidemiological studies may not be as costly as other types of research, he said, they do distract scientists from time that could be spent searching for causes and treatments for autism.
Whatever the absolute costs, the opportunity costs of this research should be kept in mind: for example, continuing to evaluate the MMR autism hypothesis may be at the expense of not pursuing some of the more promising insights into the causes and treatments of autism. The cost of clues, Omer writes in an editorial, is Top 10 Most Controversial Mental Illnesses Beyond Fidget Spinners: Ten Ways to Help Kids Focus 5 Ways to Talk to Kids About Bullying
Originally published in the journal Life Sciences.