No link between childhood vaccinations and diabetes

Study concludes there's no link between childhood vaccinations and diabetes
Thu Apr 1,12:24 AM ET

STEPHANIE NANO

(AP) - Researchers determined there is no link between childhood vaccines
and the development of diabetes, the latest study to find no such
connection.

Using birth and medical registries, Danish researchers checked vaccination
records and cases of Type 1 diabetes for the more than 739,000 children born
between 1990 and 2000 in Denmark.


They found no more cases of Type 1 diabetes among vaccinated children
compared with unvaccinated children. There also was no increase seen in
children with a sibling with diabetes, who are at higher risk of developing
the disorder, the researchers reported in Thursday's New England Journal of
Medicine (news - web sites).


Type 1 diabetes is increasing in developed countries, where childhood
immunization is widespread. That is one of the main reasons some have
proposed a link.


"This study will, one hopes, be the last one that is necessary to disprove
an association between immunizations and diabetes," Dr. Lynne L. Levitsky of
Harvard Medical School (news - web sites) said in a commentary in the
journal.


Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent
diabetes, mostly afflicts young children. Because their pancreas produces
little or no insulin, they need to take insulin daily. There is no known
cause, but genetic and environmental factors may play a role.


The Danish children were vaccinated against eight diseases on a schedule
similar to that in the United States, said Dr. Mads Melbye, one of the
researchers at the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen.


"This really re-emphasizes that vaccines are generally very safe and they
are extremely important," Melbye said.

I read the abstract yesterday and it doesn't seem to be able to make this
conclusion.

The study was of 5 vaccines, 3 of which were combination vaccines. They
measured the rates of Type 1 Diabetes for each vaccine individually,
comparing rates of children vaccinated with and children not vaccinated
with the vaccine in question.

There doesn't seem to be any "unvaccinated" children in the study in the
sense of being completely unvaccinated. Unvaccinated was only used to
refer to children unvaccinated with a particular vaccine.

I think that's confusing a lot of people.

Also they made the number and doses of vaccine each child received, plus
other vaccines a child may have received that were not part of the study,
plus the incidence of multiple vaccination (2 or more separate vaccines in
a single doctor's visit) into random factors.

Normally random factors are those that are deemed to have no or little
influence on the results of the study. You have to be very careful how you
choose what is random and what is not because this can greatly influence
the outcome of your study.

These factors, in fact, could have greater importance than the researchers
thought. They may be contributing to immune depression in children
allowing the development of Type 1 Diabetes.

At best the study can say "For a particular vaccine, vaccinated and
unvaccinated children - for the vaccine in question - show no difference
in the rates of Type 1 Diabetes.

In fact the conclusion doesn't say there is no link (as the media has been
claiming) it says:

"These results do not support a causal relation between childhood
vaccination and type 1 diabetes."

They do not claim that there is no link, they only say that the results
of their study do not show a causal relationship. Perhaps a study with a
different design would.

I would like to see a study that measures Type 1 Diabetes rates for
children with respect to the number of vaccines (including the number of
doses of each) received. This could be interesting.

Read the abstract:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/350/14/1398

Pensabe

I read the abstract yesterday and it doesn't seem to be able to make this
conclusion.

The study was of 5 vaccines, 3 of which were combination vaccines. They
measured the rates of Type 1 Diabetes for each vaccine individually,
comparing rates of children vaccinated with and children not vaccinated
with the vaccine in question.

There doesn't seem to be any "unvaccinated" children in the study in the
sense of being completely unvaccinated. Unvaccinated was only used to
refer to children unvaccinated with a particular vaccine.

I think that's confusing a lot of people.

Also they made the number and doses of vaccine each child received, plus
other vaccines a child may have received that were not part of the study,
plus the incidence of multiple vaccination (2 or more separate vaccines in
a single doctor's visit) into random factors.

Normally random factors are those that are deemed to have no or little
influence on the results of the study. You have to be very careful how you
choose what is random and what is not because this can greatly influence
the outcome of your study.

These factors, in fact, could have greater importance than the researchers
thought. They may be contributing to immune depression in children
allowing the development of Type 1 Diabetes.

At best the study can say "For a particular vaccine, vaccinated and
unvaccinated children - for the vaccine in question - show no difference
in the rates of Type 1 Diabetes.

In fact the conclusion doesn't say there is no link (as the media has been
claiming) it says:

"These results do not support a causal relation between childhood
vaccination and type 1 diabetes."

They do not claim that there is no link, they only say that the results
of their study do not show a causal relationship. Perhaps a study with a
different design would.

I would like to see a study that measures Type 1 Diabetes rates for
children with respect to the number of vaccines (including the number of
doses of each) received. This could be interesting.

Read the abstract:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/350/14/1398

Pensabe

oops, sorry about the double posting. First day here...

Statens Serum Institute
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/...1398?query=TOC
Childhood Vaccination and Type 1 Diabetes

From someone in contact with moms with autistic kids in Denmark........

According to the moms who write to me, it is the organization responsible
for vaccination practices and to whom you report reactions.

One mom said:.
"Reporting vaccine problems to them makes as much sense as giving the fox
the key to the chixken coop"

When I asked what would be the intentions behind these flawed studies, she
added
"They are doctors in Denmark. They are like soldiers in the army. They obey
orders"

http://www.serum.dk/sw379.asp
Statens Serum Institute

Ahhhhhh.....its a vaccine maker...............

Statens Serum Institut is an enterprise under the Danish Ministry for
Interior and Health and the Institute's duties partly integrated in the
national Danish health services.

Statens Serum Institut prevents and controls infectious diseases and
congenital disorders.

Statens Serum Institut undertakes:
Surveillance and advice on incidence, prevention, diagnosis and treat-ment
of infectious diseases and congenital disorders.
Specialist diagnostics of infectious, autoimmune, congenital and genetic
diseases.
Production of vaccines, plasma-derived products, diagnostic kits, media and
reagents.
Research and development within the Institute's areas of activity.
Teaching of Danish healthcare personnel in microbiology and hygiene.
Management of national and international advisory and reference services.

Further information

Statens Serum Institut

Statens Serum Institut (SSI) is a Danish government owned company engaged
in the prevention and control of infectious disease and congenital
disorders. The TB research group at SSI is world leading and has made
important contribution to the understanding of TB infection and immunity.

For more information, visit www.ssi.dk.