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 Researchers analyzed data on 196,929 children born from 2000 through
2010 in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California healthcare system
after at least 24 weeks gestation.
During follow-up periods ranging from two to 15 years, 1.6 percent
of the children were diagnosed with ASD. Among the mothers of that
1.6 percent, fewer than 1 percent had the flu while pregnant, and
about 23 percent had gotten a flu vaccine.
Neither influenza infection nor vaccination during pregnancy were
tied to children being diagnosed with ASD, the research team reports
in JAMA Pediatrics.
"Our data showed pretty convincingly that there was no association
with influenza at any time during pregnancy and autism in the
child," said senior author Lisa Croen, of Kaiser Permanente Northern
California in Oakland.
"We’re not recommending that any changes be made to the vaccination
policy," Croen told Reuters Health. "We are encouraging women to get
vaccinated while pregnant."
Previous studies looking at possible links between influenza during
pregnancy and ASD had produced mixed results, Croen and her
colleagues note in JAMA Pediatrics. And until now, they add, no
studies had looked for links between ASD and flu vaccines, which are
recommended for pregnant women.
People with ASD may have social, communication and behavioral
challenges that may cause them to interact, learn and behave in ways
different from most people, according to the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
A second study published in the same journal also found no link
between vaccines against influenza A (H1N1) - sometimes referred to
as swine flue - during pregnancy in 2009-2010 and complications
later in life for over 60,000 Danish children.
The results support the overall safety profile of the vaccine, write
the researchers, who were led by Anders Hviid, of the Statens Serum
Institute in Copenhagen. They support the World Health
Organization's recommendations that pregnant women should get a flu
vaccine.
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While the CDC recommends that everyone over 6 months of age receive
a flu vaccine, it's especially important for some people - including
pregnant women - who are more likely to experience complications
from the virus.
"The flu in pregnancy is dangerous," said Dr. Loralei Thornburg, a
high-risk pregnancy expert at the University of Rochester Medical
Center in New York. "We know that women who have the flu do much
worse and we know their babies do worse."
Pregnant women with influenza may be at an increased risk for
premature labor and delivery, according to the CDC. There is also a
greater risk of birth defects in their babies.
"There have been a lot of fears about vaccines, but the data suggest
they are effective and don’t increase the risk of autism and other
perinatal complications," said Thornburg, who was not involved with
the new studies. "The benefits strongly outweigh and risks or
theoretical risks that we’ve seen."
(This version of the story was refiled to remove extraneous words
from paragraph 6)
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2fJUsZD and http://bit.ly/2fJY1Pw JAMA
Pediatrics, online November 28, 2016.
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