1/2 of parents of autistic children stop or adjust vaccination plans for further children

[kathymuggle]

I thought this might of interest to those who have an interest in vaccines and autism.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22716265

"The authors surveyed 197 (43%) of 460 eligible parents of children under 18 years of age with autism spectrum disorders who were enrolled in a state-funded agency that provides services to those with developmental disabilities in western Los Angeles County. Half of the parents discontinued or changed vaccination practices, and this was associated with a belief that vaccines contributed to autism spectrum disorders, indicating a potential subset of undervaccinated children."

Edited by kathymuggle - 1/2/13 at 1:56pm

[Jennyanydots]

Wow, that is interesting. I haven't read the linked article yet, but I will. Thanks for posting.

[Marnica]

Yes - quite eye opening

[nia82]

My neighbor's older son is autistic. Their doctors/peds advised them to not vaccinate their younger child at all which they didn't. He's "normal", but has plenty allergies which run in the family to begin with. Their older child didn't turn around until after they stopped vaccines, gluten, wheat, dairy - he then started to talk at 6 years and pottytrained too. Quite a crazy change to witness.

[kathymuggle]

It is eye opening.  I know it does not "prove" anything but half of all parents in this study changing or quitting vaccines because of autism speaks volumes to me.  I suspect they either think vaccines contributed to the autism or  the research they have done since their childs diagnosis caused them to question if vaccines are the wisest move.

Nia, that is interesting that the doctor advised them not to vaccinate.  Lucky family to find such a compassionate and vaccine-cautious doc!  

[kathymuggle]

I found another one (just to add to the body of knowledge, and to see if other studies found similar results to the first study I posted)

https://imfar.confex.com/imfar/2010/webprogram/Paper6032.html

This study has 1974 families.

"Roughly half of families believed that there “may be” (29.9%) or “definitely is” (15.3%) a link between a child’s ASD and immunizations   {snip}  …..Overall proportion of families omitting or delaying vaccination of initial childhood series was higher among siblings born after older siblings first showed developmental signs (24.5%), especially in the case of measles-mump-rubella vaccine (19.6%). Degree of belief, higher maternal education, and younger cohort were significantly correlated with delaying and/or omitting vaccines in younger siblings "

Edited by kathymuggle - 1/3/13 at 11:11am

[nia82]

 It's a DAN pediatrician.