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New research indicates that the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) Gardasil (Merck & Co.) does not trigger autoimmune conditions such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, or multiple sclerosis after vaccination in young women. 1 Such news might be reassuring to parents who have withheld the vaccine from their children due to perceived safety concerns surrounding immunization.
To conduct the study, researchers at Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena used electronic health records from 189,629 females ages 9-26 in California who were followed for six months after receiving each dose of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine in 2006-2008. The data indicated no increase in 16 pre-specified autoimmune conditions in the vaccinated population compared to a matched group of unvaccinated girls and women. 1
What are the most important strengths of the study? There are two, says lead author Chun Chao , PhD, a research scientist at the Department of Research & Evaluation at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, and adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at University of California, Los Angeles. The first lies in the in-depth chart review by physician experts for diagnosis confirmation and to determine the timing of disease onset, so as to ensure disease onset was after vaccination.