RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and measles vaccine in an English population, 1979–1998
JF Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
JO J Epidemiol Community Health
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 883
OP 887
DO 10.1136/jech.57.11.883
VO 57
IS 11
A1 Seagroatt, V
A1 Goldacre, M J
YR 2003
UL http://jech.bmj.com/content/57/11/883.abstract
AB Study objectives: To study the hospitalised incidence of Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) from 1979 to 1998; and to determine whether the introduction of the measles vaccination programme was associated with an increase in the young. Design: Analysis of linked data on hospital admissions; a cohort analysis of the effect of the measles vaccination programme on the incidence of hospitalised CD and UC; and a comparison of these results with those from previous studies on the association between measles vaccine and CD or UC. Settings: Southern England. Subjects: People admitted to hospital with a main diagnosis of CD (1959 people) or UC (2018 people). Main results: Overall, the incidence of hospitalised CD showed no significant change over the 20 year period: the average change per year was 0.08% (95% confidence interval: −0.7% to 0.9%). The relative risk associated with the measles vaccination programme was not significant (0.91: 0.5 to 1.4). The estimate differed significantly from the relative risk of 3.0 obtained in the original study reporting an association, but agreed with the combined estimate from three subsequent studies (0.95: 0.6 to 1.5). The results for UC were similar. Conclusions: The incidence of hospitalised CD and UC remained stable over the 20 years, 1979 to 1998. Whatever caused the marked increases in CD and UC in the mid-20th century must itself have stabilised in this region. These results, together with those from other studies, provide strong evidence against measles vaccine causing CD or UC.