No increase in seizures with DTaP vaccine

No increase in seizures with DTaP vaccine

The diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) does not increase the risk of seizures in children, according to a recent article published on-line in Pediatrics. The previously used diphtheria-tetanus-whole-cell pertussis vaccine (DTP) is associated with seizures, but there were limited data on DTaP. Using data from the CDC's Vaccine Safety Data linked project, a retrospective study from 1997 through 2006 at 7 managed-care organizations was performed. Eligible children were age 6 weeks to 23 months and had not previously received DTP. Of the more than 433,000 children who were vaccinated, there were 7191 seizure events. The adjusted incident rate for seizures across all doses was 0.87 in the cohort analysis and 0.91 in the comparison group with the same patients during unexposed periods. The authors conclude that they did not observe an increased risk for seizures after DTaP among children age 6 weeks to 23 months.