Nearly half of children under 2 years of age receive some vaccinations late

Kaiser Permanente study examined increasing prevalence of undervaccination

2013-01-22

(Press-News.org) DENVER, January 21, 2013 — In a new study published today in JAMA Pediatrics (formerly Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine), Kaiser Permanente researchers found that 49 percent of children ages 2-24 months did not receive all recommended vaccinations or did not get vaccinated according to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices schedule.

Kaiser Permanente researchers used the Vaccine Safety Datalink — a collaborative effort among the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and nine managed care organizations — to analyze immunization records of 323,247 children born between 2004. Data from immunization records helped illuminate the number of days each child was missing scheduled vaccines for any reason, including parents intentionally choosing not to vaccinate their children according to ACIP recommendations. Children who did not receive their vaccines on time were considered "undervaccinated."

"While a large majority of parents in the US choose to vaccinate their children, a growing number of parents are concerned about vaccine safety and choose to vaccinate their children according to alternative immunization schedules," said lead study author Jason Glanz, Ph.D., a senior scientist at Kaiser Permanente's Institute for Health Research. "The medical community doesn't have a lot of data on these alternative schedules, so we are hoping the results from this study will open the door to more opportunities to examine their safety and efficacy."

The study found the number of undervaccinated children increased significantly during the study period, and 1 in 8 undervaccinated children's parents intentionally chose not to adhere to ACIP immunization guidelines. Alternative schedules either involve increasing the time between vaccinations or reducing the number of vaccinations in a single office visit, leaving children undervaccinated. Study findings also indicate undervaccinated children are less likely to visit their doctor's offices and more likely to be admitted to hospitals compared to their peers vaccinated under the standard schedule.

Kaiser Permanente can deliver transformational health research like this study in part because it has the largest private electronic health record system in the world. The organization's integrated model and electronic health record system securely connect 9 million people, 533 medical offices, and 37 hospitals, linking patients with their health care teams, their personal health information, and the latest medical knowledge. The Vaccine Safety Datalink project, which monitors immunization safety and addresses the gaps in scientific knowledge about any rare and serious events that occur following immunization, is enabled in part by Kaiser Permanente's electronic health records.

Kaiser Permanente is committed to furthering understanding of vaccine effectiveness and safety, including patterns of vaccine refusal. Recent Kaiser Permanente studies found children of parents who refuse vaccines are nine times more likely to get chickenpox and 23 times more likely to get whooping cough than fully immunized children.

### Other authors of the paper include: Sophia R. Newcomer, MPH; Komal J. Narwaney, M.D., Ph.D.; Simon J. Hambidge, M.D., Ph.D.; Matthew F. Daley, M.D.; Nicole Wagner, MPH; David L. McClure, Ph.D.; Stan Xu, Ph.D.; Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, M.D., Ph.D.; Grace M. Lee, M.D., MPH; Jennifer C. Nelson, Ph.D.; James G. Donahue, DVM, Ph.D.; Allison L. Naleway, Ph.D.; James D. Nordin, M.D., MPH; Marlene M. Lugg, DrPH; Eric S. Weintraub, MPH.

About the Kaiser Permanente Colorado Institute for Health Research The Kaiser Permanente Colorado Institute for Health Research (IHR) publishes and disseminates epidemiologic, behavioral, and health services research to improve the health and medical care of Kaiser Permanente members and the communities it serves. The organization has a specific focus on conducting research that can be translated into clinical practice, health promotion, and policies to influence the health of individuals and populations. Currently, the IHR's staff of more than 120 is working on more than 160 epidemiological, clinical, behavioral, community, and health services research projects. Now in its 20th year of operation, the IHR is responsible for many landmark findings. Among the most notable are recent studies about vaccine safety and refusal, and home blood-pressure monitoring and research that identified life-saving practices for heart attack patients in the emergency room. Teams of investigators collaborate on major research projects with national partners including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Safety Datalink, the HMO Research Network, and the NIH Cardiovascular Research Network and the Cancer Research Network. Learn more at http://kpco-ihr.org.

About Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and nonprofit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We serve more than 9 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to www.kp.org/newscenter. END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Study finds childhood diagnosis of ADHD increased dramatically over 9-year period

2013-01-22

PASADENA, Calif., January 21, 2013 – The rate of children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder rose dramatically between 2001 and 2010 with non-Hispanic white children having the highest diagnosis rates, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics (formerly Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine). The study also showed there was a 90 percent increase in the diagnosis of ADHD among non-Hispanic black girls during the same nine-year period. The study examined the electronic health records of nearly 850,000 ...

Overlooked ugly cholesterol causes heart disease

2013-01-22

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY The risk of ischaemic heart disease – a disease affecting some 150,000 Danes – is three times higher in persons with high levels of the so-called 'ugly' cholesterol. This is the finding of a new study of 73,000 Danes, which is shedding light on a long debate on this topic. The results have just been published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Most Danes are aware that high cholesterol is life-threatening. But very few know which type of cholesterol is the most frequent killer. Cholesterol is divided into 'the good' HDL ...

Researchers analyse 'rock dissolving' method of geoengineering

2013-01-22

The benefits and side effects of dissolving particles in our ocean's surfaces to increase the marine uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2), and therefore reduce the excess amount of it in the atmosphere, have been analysed in a new study published today. The study, published today, 22 January, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, assesses the impact of dissolving the naturally occurring mineral olivine and calculates how effective this approach would be in reducing atmospheric CO2. The researchers, from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine ...

Stopping smoking reduces risk of bacterial pneumonia in people with HIV

2013-01-22

Bacterial pneumonia is one of the commonest and most serious infections occurring in people infected with HIV. A metanalysis of cohort and case control studies published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine finds that current smokers with HIV were at double the risk of bacterial pneumonia than non-smoking counterparts, but that when people stopped smoking their risk was reduced. The metanalysis reanalysed the data of several thousand participants with HIV, from 14 studies based in USA, Europe and South Africa. Overall it appeared that current smoking ...

Perfectionism and eating disorders: A complex issue

2013-01-22

Two aspects of perfectionism are involved in body dissatisfaction and the development of eating disorders, according to a study of over a thousand women published this week in BioMed Central's open access journal, Journal of Eating Disorders. Adaptive perfectionism is high standards driving a person towards achieving a goal body image, and maladaptive perfectionism is concerned with mistakes and other people's opinions. The finding indicates that both are involved in heightened concerns about body image, which in turn places people at risk of developing an eating disorder. ...

Obese much more likely to die in car crashes than normal weight drivers

2013-01-22

The findings prompt the researchers to consider whether car design might need to change to afford greater protection to the considerable proportion of obese people in the population - currently around a third of all US adults. The researchers used data from the US Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) for 1996 to 2008. This is operated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and records all fatalities arising within 30 days of a traffic collision. During this period, details of 57,491 road traffic collisions were submitted to the system. The researchers ...

Workplace link to 1 in 6 cases of adult asthma among UK baby boomers

2013-01-22

The strongest evidence seems to be for jobs involving cleaning or cleaning agents, the research suggests. The authors base their findings on the job histories up to the age of 42 of almost 7,500 British adults born in 1958, all of whom were taking part in the National Child Development Study, which is tracking the long term health of more than 11,000 people living in Britain. Information about symptoms of asthma or wheezy bronchitis was collected at the ages of 7, 11, 16, 33 and 42 from 9,500 participants. After excluding 2,000 who had these symptoms before the ...

Study finds linchpin of skin response to UVA light

2013-01-22

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Last year, a team of researchers at Brown University discovered that certain skin cells use a light-sensitive receptor found outside of the eye to sense ultraviolet light and quickly begin pumping out melanin to protect against DNA damage. In a new study, lab members identify a key player in that biomolecular chain of events that could someday become a pharmacological target for improving this protective response. The new discovery, published the week of Jan. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is that human ...

Longer CPR extends survival in both children and adults

2013-01-22

Experts from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia were among the leaders of two large national studies showing that extending CPR longer than previously thought useful saves lives in both children and adults. The research teams analyzed impact of duration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in patients who suffered cardiac arrest while hospitalized. "These findings about the duration of CPR are game-changing, and we hope these results will rapidly affect hospital practice," said Robert A. Berg, M.D., chief of Critical Care Medicine at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. ...

Men more likely to commit research misconduct than female counterparts

2013-01-22

It's not hard to see that men are more likely to engage in risky behaviors than women, or that crime rates are many times higher among men, but this tendency to break the rules also extends to male scientists, according to a study to be published on January 22 in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. An analysis of data from the Office of Research Integrity reveals that men commit research misconduct more often than their female peers, a gender disparity that is most pronounced among senior scientists. "Not only are men committing ...

Cultivating global engagement in bioengineering education to train students skills in biomedical device design and innovation

Black, Hispanic, and American Indian adolescents likelier than white adolescents to be tested for drugs, alcohol at pediatric trauma centers

Pterosaurs needed feet on the ground to become giants

Scientists uncover auditory “sixth sense” in geckos

Almost half of persons who inject drugs (PWID) with endocarditis will die within five years; women are disproportionately affected

Unleashing the power of generative AI on smart collaborative innovation network platform to empower research and technology innovation

[Press-News.org] Nearly half of children under 2 years of age receive some vaccinations late
Kaiser Permanente study examined increasing prevalence of undervaccination

Nearly half of children under 2 years of age receive some vaccinations late

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: