Parents who refuse vitamin K for newborns are also likely to refuse vaccinations, Canadian study finds

Parents who declined vitamin K prophylaxis for their newborns were more likely to have had their child at home, to have had the child delivered by a midwife, and subsequently to decline to have their children vaccinated, a Canadian study has found. 1

The researchers said that the findings should help identify those parents who are skeptical about vitamin K prophylaxis so that they can be counseled about its benefits and to identify those who may be reluctant to have their children vaccinated.

Newborns are often deficient in vitamin K, which is essential for the activation of coagulation factors VII, IX, X, and prothrombin. The deficiency puts them at risk of a rare bleeding disorder, called vitamin K deficiency bleeding, which can have severe complications, including brain damage from intracranial hemorrhage.

The deficiency can be remedied easily with a single dose of intramuscular vitamin K administered shortly after birth. Although pediatricians have long recommended supplementation, a small but growing number of parents are...