No Association Found Between MMR Immunization And Increasing Occurrence Of Autism.(Brief Article)

2001 MAR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --

An analysis of data involving young children in California does not suggest an association between measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) immunization and an increase in the occurrence of autism, according to an article in the March 7, 2001, issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Loring Dales, MD, and colleagues from the Immunization Branch, California Department of Health Services, Berkeley, conducted a retrospective study to determine if a correlation exists in secular trends of MMR immunization coverage among young children and autism occurrence. They examined MMR immunization coverage rates among children born between 1980-1994 who were enrolled in California kindergartens, using survey samples of 600 to 1,900 children each year. The children's immunization records were reviewed to retrospectively determine the age at which they first received MMR immunization.

The authors also analyzed caseload data among children born in these years who were diagnosed with autism and were enrolled in the California Department of Developmental Services regional service center system.

Autism is a disorder of children that involves impairments in social interactions and interpersonal communication, along with repetitive and stereotyped activities. The authors point out that autism is an incompletely understood developmental disorder or group of related disorders that vary in clinical presentation, so diagnosis is not always straightforward.

Dales et al. explained that a medical investigative group in Great Britain postulated in the mid to late 1990s that measles immunization and/or immunization with measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines given combined at the same time or in succession over a relatively short time period might be a cause of autism. There has been strong interest in and debate over this hypothesis. In this connection, some cite a ...