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No link between flu jab during pregnancy and autism in kids

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Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

Observational study: A study in which the subject is observed to see if there is a relationship between two or more things (eg: the consumption of diet drinks and obesity). Observational studies cannot prove that one thing causes another, only that they are linked.

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A large Swedish study found there was no link between maternal H1N1 influenza vaccination during pregnancy and children developing autism. The scientists studied health records of nearly 40,000 infants exposed to the vaccine in the womb and nearly 30,000 whose mums had not received the vaccine during pregnancy. Following up for an average of 6.7 years, there was no difference in the incidence of autism between the two groups, the researchers found, suggesting vaccinating pregnant women against flu is safe.

Journal/conference: Annals of Internal Medicine

Research: Paper

Organisation/s: Karolinska Institutet, Sweden

Funder: By grants from the Swedish Research Council and the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research. Dr. Pasternak was supported by the Strategic Research Area Epidemiology program at Karolinska Institutet and the Swedish Research Council.

Media release

From: American College of Physicians

No link found between maternal flu vaccination during pregnancy and autism
Another study shows that vaccines during pregnancy are safe

A large cohort study found no association between maternal H1N1 vaccination during pregnancy and risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children. Furthermore, no association was found for vaccine exposure in the first trimester and ASD or the secondary outcome, autistic disorder (AD). The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Although some studies indicate that influenza vaccination during pregnancy protects against morbidity in both the woman and her offspring, the long-term risks of H1N1 vaccination exposure during fetal life have not been examined in detail. A recent U.S. study found a small increased risk for ASD in offspring of women who received influenza vaccination during the first trimester. The proportion of H1N1 vaccine and associated risks were not reported.

Researchers from Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, studied live birth records between October 2009 and September 2010 with follow-up through December 2016 to examine the risk for ASD in mothers who were vaccinated against influenza A (H1N1) during pregnancy. In total, 39,726 infants were prenatally exposed to the vaccine (13,845 during the first trimester), and 29,293 were unexposed. After a mean follow-up of 6.7 years, the researchers found that ASD and AD cases were virtually the same between vaccine-exposed and unexposed children. Restricting the analysis to vaccination in the first trimester of pregnancy did not influence risk estimates for ASD or AD. According to the researchers, these findings suggest that vaccination strategies focusing on pregnant women are safe.

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