Vaccination and diabetes not linked
Investigations into a link between childhood vaccination and type I diabetes has revealed no relation between the two.
Danish researchers say that there are several reasons why the link has
been proposed. First, an increase in the incidence of type I diabetes
in developed countries happened at around the same time as the widespread
introduction of general childhood immunisations. Second, in some mouse
models certain vaccinations have induced diabetes, although in others
vaccinations have prevented it. Third, there is some evidence of an association
between infections and type I diabetes.
The researchers evaluated a cohort of all children born in Denmark from
January 1990 to December 2000 for whom information on vaccinations and
diabetes was available. Type I diabetes was diagnosed in 681 children
out of around 740,000.
The authors say that development of type I diabetes in genetically predisposed
children was not associated with vaccination. Rate ratios for the disease
among children who received at least one dose of vaccine compared with
unvaccinated children were Haemophilus influenzae type b 0.91, diphtheria,
tetanus and inactivated polio 1.02, diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis
and inactivated polio 0.96, whole cell pertussis 1.06, measles mumps
and rubella 1.14 and oral polio 1.08. There was also no evidence of any
clustering of cases two to four years after immunisation with any vaccine
(New England Journal of Medicine 2004;350:1398). |
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