Vaccination doesn’t increase risk of pediatric MS, study finds
Vaccinated children had lower risk of developing MS within 5 years
Vaccination does not increase the risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) in children and adolescents within five years, a study found.
Instead, there was a trend toward a lower risk of pediatric-onset MS in vaccinated children. This in line with earlier findings that vaccination is not a risk factor for adults developing the disease.
The study, “Vaccination as a risk factor for pediatric multiple sclerosis: Insights from a retrospective case–control study,” was published in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal by researchers in Germany, who called for rebuilding trust in vaccines as a public health measure.
“Vaccinations remain a critical component of public health strategies, effectively preventing the transmission of infectious diseases and their severe outcomes,” they wrote. “These results underscore the importance of maintaining trust in childhood vaccination programs.”
MS occurs when the immune system launches an inflammatory attack that causes damage to healthy parts of the brain and spinal cord, causing a wide range of symptoms. While pediatric MS is rare, the disease can manifest during childhood or adolescence.
Pediatric MS risk factors
The exact causes of adult and pediatric-onset MS are unclear, but risk factors including infections with bacteria and viruses may contribute to the autoimmune disease. While vaccines have been put forward as a potential risk factor, there appears to be no link between vaccination and MS in adults.
The researchers drew on claims data from 346 patients, ages 9–17, who had received a diagnosis of MS. A group of children and adolescents without any autoimmune disease was matched for age, sex, and place of residence to serve as a control.
Control groups of children with Crohn’s disease and psoriasis, two other autoimmune diseases, were also used for comparison.
In the five years before being diagnosed with MS, nearly two-thirds (65.3%) of patients were vaccinated, a proportion slightly lower than that observed in the group with no autoimmune disease (68.4%) or in patients with Crohn’s disease (69%) or psoriasis (67.4%).
Being vaccinated tended to reduce the odds of being diagnosed with MS within five years, by 12% compared with the group without autoimmune diseases, but this was not statistically significant. Similar reductions were also observed in comparison with the Crohn’s and psoriasis groups, but those also failed to reach statistical significance.
Researchers concluded that the “findings do not indicate that childhood vaccination in the 5 years before the diagnosis is associated with an increased risk of pediatric MS.”
While larger studies are needed to validate the findings, “this conclusion aligns with previous studies that have found no significant link between vaccinations and the onset of MS or other autoimmune diseases,” the researchers wrote.
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