The Connection Between Vaccines and Neuropsychiatric Childhood Disorders (Premium)
A study by researchers from Yale University’s Child Study Center and Pennsylvania State University found that patients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety disorder, and chronic tic disorder were more likely to have been vaccinated within the three months prior to diagnosis.
The research, “Temporal Association of Certain Neuropsychiatric Disorders Following Vaccination of Children and Adolescents: A Pilot Case–Control Study” is preliminary. But, it is a “big deal” on two fronts. First, it is groundbreaking, as it paves the way for exploring the impact of vaccines on neuropsychiatric disorders in a scientific manner. Secondly, the involvement of Dr. James Leckman, a psychiatrist and highly respected researcher in the field of OCD and Tourette syndrome, lends credibility to the study.
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Given the rapidly increasing number of children suffering from one or more neuropsychiatric disorders, it is critical that answers be found to explain what is happening to the developing immune and nervous systems of youngsters. Vaccines are a logical and necessary area of study, regardless of the political climate surrounding them. In this regard, this study is a bold effort. Well-funded and well-designed follow up studies are needed.
This research looked at a specific set of vaccines, using private health insurance data on more than 95,000 children, ages 6-15 years. The data was collected from 2002 through 2007. Results were published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Psychiatry in January 2017. The vaccines monitored in the research were: influenza, tetanus and diphtheria, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningitis, and varicella (chickenpox). The authors hypothesized: “Some vaccines could have an impact in a subset of susceptible individuals and we aimed to investigate whether there is a temporal association between the antecedent administration of vaccines and the onset of several neuropsychiatric disorders.”
The findings
Subjects with newly diagnosed anorexia nervosa were more likely than controls to have had any vaccination in the previous 3 months. According to the Yale Daily News, the researchers found that the influenza vaccine was associated with higher rates of OCD, anorexia, anxiety disorder and tic disorder. Several other associations were also significant, including hepatitis A vaccine with obsessive compulsive disorder and anorexia nervosa, hepatitis B with anorexia nervosa, and meningitis with anorexia disorder and chronic tic disorder.
The authors stop short of stating that the vaccinations described “caused” these disorders. Yet they conclude that there was an association between the diagnosis of the neuropsychiatric conditions and individuals having received vaccines within the prior three months. While calling for more research, they also encouraged continuing with the current CDC guidelines for vaccines.
For more details see the full journal article here.
See Yale University report here
For a critical assessment of this study read here
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