Study: Rotavirus Vaccination Not Associated with Type 1 Diabetes in Children

A recent study conducted by JAMA Pediatrics found that the rotavirus vaccination does not appear to be associated with type 1 diabetes in children.

Rotovirus infection is a hypothesized risk factor for type 1 diabetes, according to the authors. The objective of the study was to examine whether there is an association between rotavirus vaccination and incidence of type 1 diabetes in children aged 8 months to 11 years.

Seven US health care organizations of the Vaccine Safety Datalink conducted a study of 386,937 children born between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2014. Children who were deemed eligible were followed up with until a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, disenrollment, or December 31, 2017.

Three exposure groups were created for the rotavirus in children aged 2 to 8 months. The first group included children who received all recommended doses of rotavirus vaccine by 8 months of age, fully exposed to rotavirus vaccination. The second group had received some, but not all, recommended rotavirus vaccines, partially exposed to rotavirus vaccination. The third group did not receive any doses of rotavirus vaccines, unexposed to rotavirus vaccination.

The findings found that in a cohort of 386,937 children, 93.1% were fully exposed to rotavirus vaccination, 4.1% were partially exposed to rotavirus vaccination, and 2.8% were unexposed to rotavirus vaccination. Children were followed up a median of 5.4 years, and total person-time follow-up in the cohort was 2,253,879 years.

There were 464 cases of type 1 diabetes in the cohort, with an incidence rate of 20.6 cases per 100,000 person-years. The adjusted hazard ratio was 1.03 for children fully exposed to rotavirus vaccination and 1.50 for children partially exposed to rotavirus vaccination.

REFERENCE

Glanz JM, Clarke CL, Xu S, et al. Association Between Rotavirus Vaccination and Type 1 Diabetes in Children. JAMA Pediatr. Published March 9, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.6324.