Bottom Line: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their younger siblings were less likely to be fully vaccinated compared with the general population.
Why The Research Is Interesting: Numerous scientific studies report no association between childhood vaccination and ASD. But in the United States, rates of vaccination have been declining in recent years and how this affects children with ASD or their younger siblings isn't know.
Who and When: 3,729 children with ASD and 592,907 children without ASD, who were born between 1995 and 2010, and their respective younger siblings born between 1997 and 2014
What (Study Measures): Recommended childhood vaccines between the ages of 1 month and 12 years (expsoure); proportion of children who received all their vaccine doses according to recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (outcome)
How (Study Design): This was an observational study. Researchers were not intervening for purposes of the study and they cannot control natural differences that could explain the study findings.
Authors: Ousseny Zerbo, Ph.D., of the Kaiser Permanent Vaccine Study Center, Oakland, California, and coauthors
Study Limitations: The authors cannot attribute all of the undervaccination findings for the younger siblings of children with ASD to the ASD diagnosis of the older sibling because parents may have modified the vaccine schedule for other reasons.
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Related Material: An editor article review podcast with Aaron E. Carroll, M.D., M.S., JAMA Pediatrics digital media editor, also is available on the For The Media website. The audio transcript is available here.
For more details and to read the full study, please visit the For The Media website.
(doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.0082)
Editor's Note: The article contains conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
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Journal
JAMA Pediatrics