Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome after Immunization with the Diphtheria–Tetanus–Pertussis Vaccine

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Journal Article 1 Mention

Marie R. Griffin•1988

Wayne A. RayJohn R. Livengood

Top 10% · 90th percentile

113 citations · Genetics

TLDR

Getting the DTP vaccine does not make it more likely for a baby to die suddenly and unexpectedly. The vaccine is not linked to sudden infant deaths.

Summary

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1 Study Aim

The study set out to find out if babies who recently received the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP) vaccine were at higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), which is when a baby dies suddenly and unexpectedly without a clear reason. Simply put: The researchers wanted to see if the DTP vaccine could cause sudden, unexplained deaths in babies.

2 Study Design

The researchers followed a group of 129,834 babies born in four cities in Tennessee from 1974 to 1984. All these babies got at least one DTP shot in their first year. The team used computer records to match vaccine dates with birth and death certificates, looking for SIDS cases. They compared the risk of SIDS in the 30 days after vaccination to the risk more than 31 days after vaccination, while also considering factors like age, sex, race, birth weight, and Medicaid status. Simply put: The study tracked a large group of babies to see if SIDS happened more often soon after getting the DTP vaccine.

3 Findings

The study reveals that there was no increase in the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) after babies received the DTP vaccine. In fact, the risk of SIDS was not higher in the days or weeks following vaccination compared to later periods. The results stayed the same even after adjusting for age, sex, race, birth weight, and other factors. The authors conclude that the DTP vaccine does not raise the risk of SIDS in infants. This finding supports the safety of the DTP vaccine in relation to sudden infant deaths. Simply put: The study found that the DTP vaccine does not cause sudden, unexplained deaths in babies.

Abstract

To evaluate recent immunization against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP) as a possible risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), we studied the rates of SIDS after the administration of DTP vaccine in a cohort of 129,834 children who were born in four urban Tennessee counties during the period from 1974 through 1984. All the children received at least one DTP immunization in the first year of life at county health-department clinics or from Medicaid providers. Computerized immunization records from these sources were linked with Tennessee birth and death certificates to establish the cohort, ascertain the timing of immunization, and identify cases of SIDS. These children represented 42 percent of the births in the four counties. Among these children, 204 deaths occurred at the ages of 29 to 365 days; 109 deaths were classified as due to SIDS. We estimated the risk of SIDS according to the length of time, up to 30 days, since DTP immunization and compared it with the risk 31 days or more after immunization to calculate the relative risk. With control for age, the relative risk from 0 to 3 days after DTP immunization was 0.18 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.04 to 0.8); from 4 to 7 days, 0.17 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.04 to 0.7); from 8 to 14 days, 0.75 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.4 to 1.5); and from 15 to 30 days, 1.0 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.6 to 1.6). A multivariate analysis in which we controlled for age, sex, race, year, birth weight, and Medicaid enrollment, produced similar results. We conclude that in this large population of children there was no increase in the risk of SIDS after immunization with the DTP vaccine.

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