US study backs MMR supporters

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   US study backs MMR supporters

James Meikle, health correspondent
Friday August 23, 2002
The Guardian

Children with autism are no more likely to have suffered severe disorders of the stomach or intestines than those without autism, according to researchers who cast doubt on a suggested link between the conditions that has fuelled parents' suspicion of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

Authors of a study comparing medical histories of nearly 550 babies and children recorded by British GPs do not rule out the possibility of such a link, but say "if this occurs, it is likely to be uncommon".

The conclusions of a team at Boston University in the US will encourage the government and other supporters of the MMR programme

Researchers, including Andrew Wakefield, first suggested an association between measles vaccination and inflammatory bowel disease in 1995, and three years later Dr Wakefield and colleagues widened the hypothesis to suggest the subsequent development of autism might be linked to MMR.

The suggestion has won little sympathy within the medical establishment, which has pointed to international studies indicating no evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine and cases of autism.

The Boston team, reporting in the British Medical Journal today, reviewed evidence on children born after January 1988 and diagnosed as having autism before the end of 1998. They identified 96 such children, matched each case to five children without autism, and studied the time between their MMR inoculation and onset of gastrointestinal symptoms.

They found no increase in the history of serious intestinal disorders or food intolerance, and no time link between MMR and any symptoms of intestinal problems in children who went on to develop autism.

 

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