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No Link: Maternal Vaccination and Infant Mortality
Pediatrics; ePub 2018 Feb 20; Sukumaran, et al
No association was found between vaccination during pregnancy and risk of infant hospitalization or death in the first 6 months of life, according to a recent study. These findings support the safety of current recommendations for influenza and Tdap vaccination during pregnancy. Researchers included singleton, live birth pregnancies in the Vaccine Safety Datalink between 2004 and 2014. Outcomes were infant hospitalizations and mortality in the first 6 months of life. They performed a case-control study matching case patients and controls 1:1 and used conditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios for maternal exposure to influenza and/or Tdap vaccines in pregnancy. They found:
- Of the 413,034 live births in the population, 25,222 infants had hospitalizations and 157 infants died in the first 6 months of life.
- No association was found between infant hospitalization and maternal influenza or Tdap vaccinations.
- In addition, no association was found between infant mortality and maternal influenza or Tdap vaccinations.
Sukumaran L, McCarthy NL, Kharbanda EO, et al. Infant hospitalizations and mortality after maternal vaccination. [Published online ahead of print February 20, 2018]. Pediatrics. doi:10.1542/peds.2017-3310.
Vaccination during pregnancy is the only way to protect newborn babies and those less than 6 months of age from diseases that may be very severe and even deadly in young children, notably pertussis and influenza. This large case-control study is very reassuring that vaccination for influenza and pertussis during pregnancy is safe. The data demonstrating no association between maternal vaccination and infant mortality provide important information that can be shared with pregnant women and encourage improved vaccination rates in this population. This will ultimately improve the health of young children.—Sarah Rawstron, MB, BS, FAAP, FIDSA
Pediatric Residency Program Director, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, NY
Clinical Associate Professor, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, NY