Study of 2.5M children finds no link between MMR vaccine and autism
5 hours ago
- A study of over 2.5 million U.S. children found that receiving the MMR vaccine before age two is not associated with an increased risk of developing autism.
- The research used age-anchored landmark analysis to reduce bias from the timing of vaccination and autism diagnosis, addressing limitations in earlier observational studies.
- Across all age windows analyzed, the first MMR dose showed no increased autism risk; the main adjusted hazard ratio was 0.97 (99% CI 0.91–1.03), consistent with no difference in risk.
- The findings remained unchanged in multiple sensitivity analyses, including a negative control using the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine booster, which also showed no autism link.
- The study lacked family history of autism and relied on medical records, meaning some bias may remain, but the results align with prior research showing no connection between MMR and autism.