Lower risk of atopic disorders in whole cell pertussis-vaccinated children

Abstract

This study addressed whether whole cell pertussis-vaccinated children have a different risk of atopic disorders compared with children who did not receive this vaccination.Data on vaccination status, atopic disorders and child and family characteristics of the children of 700 families were collected in this retrospective study. A minority of these 700 families refused vaccinations for religious reasons. The relation between pertussis-vaccination status and atopic disorders was analysed by means of adjusted logistic regression for repeated measurements in order to account for the correlation between sibship members.The 700 An increased risk of atopic disorders in pertussis or diphtheria tetanus pertussis (DTP) vaccinated children has been reported [1-4], but this was not confirmed by more recent observational studies [5][6][7], a randomised placebocontrolled trial [8], and an ecological study [9]. Reports of adverse effects of vaccinations usually cause controversy and debate between advocates and opponents of vaccination programmes. The current study evaluated the role of the pertussis vaccination as a risk factor for atopic disorders within a study of family size and birth order as risk factors for asthma, allergy and eczema in a population of 700 families in the Netherlands. Material and methods Study subjectsIn a study in the Netherlands designed to determine the role of sibship size and birth order as risk factors for asthma, allergy and eczema 700 families with index children born in 1988, 1989 or 1990 were sampled from files administered by the Municipal Health Service covering the municipality of Zwijndrecht, a town with w40,000 inhabitants. A subgroup of these families adhere to the orthodox reformed religion and their children mostly attend orthodox reformed schools. Some of the parents of this group refrain from vaccinations for religious reasons. According to an official schedule in the Netherlands, children receive four vaccinations of DTP (whole cell), Poliomyelitis and Haemophilus influenzae type B at aged v1 yr (before 1998 at aged 3, 4, 5 and 11 months), mumps-measles-rubella (MMR) at aged 14 months, a booster of DT-Poliomyelitis at aged 4 and 9 yrs and a booster of MMR at aged 9 yrs. Since 2002 a booster of acellular pertussis is administered at aged 4 yrs. Study designThis was a retrospective study using datafiles from routine health checkups from birth till adolescence. MethodsData on preventive health checkups of index children aged 6 yrs performed by the Municipal Health Service were collected from the files. Data from files of their siblings were also extracted. The following data were used: presence and type of allergy, asthma, eczema, current medication, birth order, sibship size, date of birth, sex, date of checkup, year of birth of the mother, postal code, country of birth of the parents, occupation of the breadwinner, atopic disorders of the parents, vaccination status, and duration of breastfeeding. A child was considered having asthma, allergy or eczema if this was mention...

Diphtheria, Pertussis, Poliomyelitis, Tetanus, and Haemophilus influenzae Type b Vaccinations and Risk of Eczema and Recurrent Wheeze in the First Year of Life: The KOALA Birth Cohort Study

“…In contrast, authors of a Dutch retrospective study reported pertussis vaccination to be associated with lower risk of eczema in 6-year-old children. 17 In this study, 39 of 44 infants classified as not vaccinated for pertussis had no vaccination at all, and pertussis-vaccinated infants were also DPT vaccinated. Therefore, the comparison made in this study would seem to reflect DPPT-vaccinated children versus completely unvaccinated children.…”

Delay in diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus vaccination is associated with a reduced risk of childhood asthma

“…An IgE response to vaccine antigens is commonly detectable in the sera of children vaccinated with diphtheria/tetanus, and the IgE response to vaccine antigens is more pronounced among atopic individuals. 3,4 The epidemiologic evidence linking diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus (DPT) immunizations to childhood asthma or atopy is mixed, with studies showing an increased [4][5][6][7][8][9] or decreased risk [10][11][12] of developing asthma, or no association. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] These studies have primarily addressed the question of whether asthma is more likely to develop in vaccinated versus unvaccinated children.…”

Routine Vaccination Against Pertussis and the Risk of Childhood Asthma: A Population-Based Cohort Study

“…Three of these were cross-sectional and thus could not account for temporal relationships between exposures and outcome. [25][26][27] Similarly to ours, 1 study was based on data from a population-based cohort with well separated assessment of vaccinations and health outcomes. 24 In this study pertussis vaccination was associated with lower prevalence of early atopic dermatitis and allergic sensitization.…”

“…[7][8][9][10][11] Other studies, including a randomized clinical trial, 12,13 found no or only inconclusive evidence for an association, [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] and some reported that vaccination against pertussis may protect from atopy. [24][25][26][27] These differences are partly because of the biases affecting this type of research. Reliable vaccination data are often difficult to obtain and many studies have therefore relied on parental or personal recall.…”