Study Shows No Evidence Multiple Vaccines Raise Autism Risk
- By BSTQ Staff
A new study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the number of childhood vaccines administered, either in a single day or during the first two years of life, has no bearing on autism risk. The case-control study of more than 1,000 children showed there were no significant differences between those who did and those who did not have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in total antigens from vaccines received by age 2 years or in the maximum number of antigens received on a single day. In addition, increasing exposure to antibody-stimulating proteins or polysaccharides from vaccines from the age of 3 months to 2 years was not associated with the risk of developing an ASD.
In the study, investigators evaluated combined data from three managed care organizations for 256 children with an ASD and 752 age- and sex-matched healthy peers. All of the children were born between January 1994 and December 1999. Total cumulative exposure to antibody-stimulating proteins and polysaccharides was determined by adding together the antigen content of each vaccine received. The association between this exposure and ASD was determined at birth to 3 months, birth to 7 months and birth to 2 years. In addition, maximum number of antigens from vaccines received in a single day was determined. Further analysis evaluated the association between these exposures and the subcategories of autistic disorder or ASD with regression.
Results showed that the adjusted odds ratio of an ASD associated with each 25-unit increase in total antigen exposure was 0.999 for cumulative exposure to age 3 months, to age 7 months and to age 2 years. In other words, none of the associations was significant. There also was no risk for an ASD associated with single-day antigen exposure.
The investigators noted that the current routine vaccine schedule contains more childhood vaccines than were administered a couple of decades ago; however, the maximum number of antigens that a child could be exposed to by age 2 in 2013 is 315 compared with several thousands in the late 1990s. The study was published online March 29 in the Journal of Pediatrics.
