TY - JOUR
T1 - MMR vaccination and pervasive developmental disorders
T2 - A case-control study
AU - Smeeth, Liam
AU - Cook, Claire
AU - Fombonne, Prof Eric
AU - Heavey, Lisa
AU - Rodrigues, Prof Laura C.
AU - Smith, Prof Peter G.
AU - Hall, Prof Andrew J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Helen Weiss for checking the statistical analyses for errors; Stephen Evans, Paddy Farrington, and Paul Fine for comments on the manuscript; and Hershel Jick and James Kaye for providing additional data. This statement does not imply that these people necessarily agree with all parts of the paper. The study was funded by the UK Medical Research Council. L Smeeth is supported by a Medical Research Council Clinician Scientist Fellowship.
PY - 2004/9/11
Y1 - 2004/9/11
N2 - Background Concern that measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination might cause autism has led to a fall in vaccine coverage. We investigated whether MMR vaccination is associated with an increased risk of autism or other pervasive developmental disorders. Methods We did a matched case-control study using the UK General Practice Research Database. Cases were people born in 1973 or later who had first recorded diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorder while registered with a contributing general practice between 1987 and 2001. Controls were matched on age, sex, and general practice. Findings 1294 cases and 4469 controls were included. 1010 cases (78·1%) had MMR vaccination recorded before diagnosis, compared with 3671 controls (82·1%) before the age at which their matched case was diagnosed. After adjustment for age at joining the database, the odds ratio for association between MMR and pervasive developmental disorder was 0·86 (95% CI 0·68-1·09). Findings were similar when restricted to children with a diagnosis of autism, to those vaccinated with MMR before the third birthday, or to the period before media coverage of the hypothesis linking MMR with autism. Interpretation Our findings suggest that MMR vaccination is not associated with an increased risk of pervasive developmental disorders.
AB - Background Concern that measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination might cause autism has led to a fall in vaccine coverage. We investigated whether MMR vaccination is associated with an increased risk of autism or other pervasive developmental disorders. Methods We did a matched case-control study using the UK General Practice Research Database. Cases were people born in 1973 or later who had first recorded diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorder while registered with a contributing general practice between 1987 and 2001. Controls were matched on age, sex, and general practice. Findings 1294 cases and 4469 controls were included. 1010 cases (78·1%) had MMR vaccination recorded before diagnosis, compared with 3671 controls (82·1%) before the age at which their matched case was diagnosed. After adjustment for age at joining the database, the odds ratio for association between MMR and pervasive developmental disorder was 0·86 (95% CI 0·68-1·09). Findings were similar when restricted to children with a diagnosis of autism, to those vaccinated with MMR before the third birthday, or to the period before media coverage of the hypothesis linking MMR with autism. Interpretation Our findings suggest that MMR vaccination is not associated with an increased risk of pervasive developmental disorders.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=4444290427&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=4444290427&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17020-7
DO - 10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17020-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 15364187
AN - SCOPUS:4444290427
SN - 0140-6736
VL - 364
SP - 963
EP - 969
JO - Lancet
JF - Lancet
IS - 9438
ER -