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J Autism Dev Disord (2007) 37:210217 DOI 10.1007/s10803-006-0157-3
ORIGINAL PAPER
MMR-Vaccine and Regression in Autism Spectrum Disorders:
Negative Results Presented from Japan
Tokio Uchiyama Michiko Kurosawa Yutaka Inaba
Published online: 25 July 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2006
Abstract It has been suggested that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) is a cause of regressive autism. As MMR was used in Japan only between 1989 and 1993, this time period affords a natural experiment to examine this hypothesis. Data on 904 patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) were analyzed. During the period of MMR usage no signicant difference was found in the incidence of regression between MMR-vaccinated children and non-vaccinated children. Among the proportion and incidence of regression across the three MMR-program-related periods (before, during and after MMR usage), no signicant difference was found between those who had received MMR and those who had not. Moreover, the incidence of regression did not change signicantly across the three periods.
Keywords MMR Autism ASD Regression
Introduction
The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine has been suggested as a possible cause of a new variant of
regressive autism (Wakeeld et al., 1998). In Japan, the MMR vaccination was introduced in April 1989, when the Japanese government recommended that the MMR vaccine or a monovalent measles vaccination be given once to toddlers between the age of 12 and 36 months. In Japan, only one shot of MMR was included in the immunization schedule. The monova-lent mumps and rubella vaccine remained the optimal choice of vaccine for those who did not participate in the MMR program. In Japan, the MMR vaccine contained AIK-C (measles), Urabe AM9 (mumps), and To-336 (rubella) strains. However, soon after the introduction of the MMR program, there were several cases of aseptic meningitis, which may have been caused by the Urabe strain of the mumps virus (Sugiura & Yamada, 1991). As a result, in April 1993, the Japanese government ceased extensive inoculation with MMR (Takahashi, Arai, Tanaka-Taya, & Okabe, 2001; Takahashi et al., 2003).
Wakeeld et al. (1998) have postulated that the MMR vaccination causes a variant of autism associated with developmental regression and bowel symptoms. This hypothesis predicts that the incidence of regressive autism should be higher in children given the MMR vaccine, and...