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Wheezing lower respiratory disease and vaccination of full-term infants
John P Mullooly1, John Pearson, Lois Drew
1Center for Health Research, 3800 N. Interstate Ave., Portland, OR 97227, USA. John.Mullooly@kp.org
Insights
Infant wheezing is not linked to recent vaccinations. This study found no evidence that vaccines like DTP, HBV, or MMR increase the risk of wheezing in infants.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric respiratory health
- Immunization and public health
Background:
- Speculation exists linking increased infant vaccinations to rising wheezing illnesses.
- Understanding potential vaccine side effects is crucial for public health policy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between infant vaccinations and the incidence of wheezing in full-term infants.
- To determine if recent vaccination schedules correlate with increased lower respiratory disease.
Main Methods:
- A matched case-control study involving 1366 case-control pairs of full-term infants.
- Infant vaccination status and wheezing were assessed using medical databases and chart reviews.
- Conditional logistic regression analyzed the risk of wheeze onset following vaccination exposure windows.
Main Results:
- No association was found between the risk of wheezing and recent vaccination with whole-cell pertussis (DTP), hepatitis B (HBV), Haemophilus influenzae type b (HIB), oral polio (OPV), or measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines.
- Exposure to hepatitis B (HBV) or measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines did not increase the risk of first wheeze.
Conclusions:
- Increases in infant wheezing are not attributable to recent vaccination schedules in full-term infants.
- The findings suggest that vaccination does not play a role in the rising incidence of infant wheezing.
Purpose:
There have been speculations that increases in vaccinations have caused recent increases in wheezing lower respiratory disease during infancy. We assess possible associations between vaccines and incidence of wheezing in full-term infants.
Methods:
We conducted a matched case-control study of full-term infants born into the Kaiser Permanente Northwest health plan during 1991-1994 and continuously enrolled for at least 12 months (n = 1366 case-control pairs). Potential cases of wheeze were ascertained from medical care databases and verified by chart review. Vaccinations, demographic factors, and wheeze risk factors were abstracted from charts. Adjusted relative risks of first onset of wheeze during post-vaccination exposure windows were estimated by conditional logistic regression. We also conducted case-series analyses of wheeze onsets.
Results:
We found no evidence that risk of wheeze during infancy is associated with recency of vaccination with whole-cell pertussis (DTP), hepatitis b (HBV), Haemophilus influenzae type b (HIB), oral polio (OPV), or measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines. We also found no evidence that risk of first wheeze is associated with exposure to HBV or MMR.
Conclusions:
Recent increases in wheezing during infancy do not appear to be related to increases in vaccinations of full-term infants.