New Meta-analysis Confirms: No Association between Vaccines and Autism

[strollingbones]

A meta-analysis of ten studies involving more than 1.2 million children reaffirms that vaccines don’t cause autism. If anything, immunization was associated with decreased risk that children would develop autism, a possibility that’s strongest with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.

The report appears online in the journal Vaccine as an “uncorrected proof.” This means that it has passed through peer review and been accepted for publication, but may still undergo proof-reading changes.

A meta-analysis combines and analyzes the results of multiple, earlier studies. By increasing the size of the sample – in this case to 1,266,327 children –scientists can generate more accurate conclusions than would be possible with a single study.

“This analysis provides further confirmation for a lack of association between vaccines and autism that the broader healthcare community has understood and embraced for some time,” comments Autism Speaks Chief Science Officer Rob Ring. "Autism Speaks’ own policy on vaccines echoes those of other credible healthcare organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization. We strongly encourage parents to work with their physician to ensure their children receive the full benefits immunization offers in protecting their loved ones against a variety of preventable childhood diseases.”

Read Autism Speaks policy statement on vaccines and autism here.

The study’s authors, from the University of Sydney, in Australia, summarized their findings as follows:

• There was no relationship between vaccination and autism (OR: 0.99; 95% CI: 0.92 to 1.06).

• There was no relationship between vaccination and ASD [autism spectrum disorder] (OR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.68 to 1.20).

• There was no relationship between [autism/ASD] and MMR (OR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.70 to 1.01).

• There was no relationship between [autism/ASD] and thimerosal (OR: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.77 to 1.31).

• There was no relationship between [autism/ASD] and mercury (Hg) (OR: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.93 to 1.07).

By “autism,” the researchers are referring to “autistic disorder,” a term generally reserved for those on the most severely affected end of the autism spectrum.

The abbreviation OR stands for odds ratio. Here it measures the difference in risk for autism between two groups – for example those who received the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine versus those who did not. An odds ratio of 1 means no difference in risk. Numbers below 1.00 indicate decreased risk. Those above 1.00 indicate increased risk. The possibility of decreased risk was strongest for the MMR vaccine, with an odds ratio of 0.84, or a 16 percent risk reduction.

CI stands for confidence interval, and “95% CI” means that, with 95 percent confidence, the true difference in risk falls within the range of values given. In general, the range of possible values tightens as the size of the total sample studied increases.

“Meta-analysis can be a powerful research approach,” comments epidemiologist Michael Rosanoff, Autism Speaks associate director for public health research. “It assesses the quality of data across multiple studies and combines the highest-quality data to give us a ‘higher definition picture’ of the relationship between potential risk factors and autism.” (Rosanoff was not involved in the analysis.)

Acknowledging parents’ concerns, one of the three authors added the following epilogue to the report:

As an epidemiologist I believe the data that is presented in this meta-analysis. However, as a parent of three children I have some understanding of the fears associated with reactions and effects of vaccines. My first two children have had febrile seizures after routine vaccinations, one of them a serious event. These events did not stop me from vaccinating my third child, however, I did take some proactive measures to reduce the risk of similar adverse effects. I vaccinated my child in the morning so that we were aware if any early adverse reaction during the day and I also gave my child a dose of paracetamol 30 min before the vaccination was given to reduce any fever that might develop after the injection. As a parent I know my children better than anyone and I equate their seizures to the effects of the vaccination by increasing their body temperature. For parents who do notice a significant change in their child's cognitive function and behaviour after a vaccination I encourage you to report these events immediately to your family physician and to the 'Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System'.

Also see: Study Addresses ‘Too Many Too Soon?’ Vaccine Concerns

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  New Meta-analysis Confirms: No Association between Vaccines and Autism

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[Muhammed]

The anti-science left doesn't give a shit. Their politics of fear has already stopped countless young parents from getting their children vaccinated.

 

[William Joyce]

I hear it's pregnant mothers who load up on anti-depressants.

 

[waltky]

Simple eye test may detect autism in children sooner...

Simple eye test may detect autism in children sooner, researchers say
April 2, 2016 -- A simple test focused on determining where a child's eyes wander may be the key to detecting autism spectrum disorders earlier and more accurately.

According to two studies by Cleveland Clinic and the University of Vermont, researchers have found a distinct connection between ASD and the eyes. The test may save significant time when diagnosing ASD, when previously parental reports and clinical observations were the primary techniques in detecting the disorder.

Researchers at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio took advantage of eye-tracking technology to track the amount of time at-risk patients were spending focusing on different objects. The study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, was able to correctly determine autism in 80 percent of their patients, already deemed high-risk and between ages 3 and 8. "Identifying children with autism early is critical to getting them appropriate interventions that will make their lives better," said study leader Thomas Frazier in a statement. "The lack of objective methods for identifying children with autism can be a major impediment to early diagnosis. Remote eye tracking is easy to use with young children and our study shows that it has excellent potential to enhance identification and, because it is objective, may increase parents' acceptance of the diagnosis, allowing their children to get treatment faster."

The second study, at the University of Vermont, recorded patients' gazes during verbal conversations, discovering a link between emotional conversations and focus. The study, published in Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, found children with ASD tend to focus on a speaker's mouth instead of their eyes during emotional discussions. "What you talk about really matters for children with ASD," the study's lead author Tiffany Hutchins said. "You just change a few words by talking about what people do versus how they feel and you can have a profound impact on where eyes go for information."

The findings are key to understanding how some patients with ASD handle emotional conversations as they miss out generally common social cues found in the eyes and eyebrows. A release from UVM suggested "children with ASD miss the chance to understand the relationship between facial expressions and underlying thoughts because they neglect the abundance of social meaning given in the eyes." While some treatment programs encourage children with autism to peer into the eyes of whom they speak with, study co-author Ashley Brien said the practice can be counterproductive. "Some of the interventions that are used are not time tested or evidence based," she said. "We're hoping to change that."

Simple eye test may detect autism in children sooner, researchers say

 

[mamooth]

The study finds autism in children strongly linked to their mother's blood levels of organochlorine chemicals (PCBs, that is) during pregnancy. Those chemicals were banned in the USA in 1977, but they still linger in the environment.

Chemicals banned decades ago linked to increased autism risk today