Study Finds No Link between Number of Vaccinations and Autism Risk

There are many parents, about one in four, who believe that vaccination can up autism risk and delay getting their children vaccinated. A new study has now found that there is no link between autism and "too many vaccinations at early age".

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. According to a new report, about one in 50 children has ASD.

Although many studies have shown that there is no risk of ASD from vaccinations, many parents delay or avoid vaccinations for their children.

The study was conducted by Dr. Frank DeStefano and team from the CDC and Abt Associates, Inc. Researchers obtained data from 256 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 752 children without ASD. All children in the study were born between 1994 and 1999. They then looked at the number of vaccination each child received and the exposure to antigens per vaccination.

Researchers then added the total number of antigens that the child was exposed to when he/she was two years of age.

The study results showed that the number of antigens in autism diagnosed and undiagnosed children remained the same.

The number of vaccinations given to children today is higher than in the late 90s. However, researchers say that the current number of antigens that the child gets exposed to is about 315 compared to the thousands of antigens in the 90s.

"The possibility that immunological stimulation from vaccines during the first 1 or 2 years of life could be related to the development of ASD is not well-supported by what is known about the neurobiology of ASDs," the authors say.

The study is published in The Journal of Pediatrics.