Healthy Skepticism Library item: 9287

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Publication type: Journal Article

Kmietowicz Z.
MMR controversy has left parents emotionally scarred, study finds
BMJ 2007 Apr 7; 334:(7596):715
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/334/7596/715-d

Abstract:

Controversy over the link between autism and the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine has induced stress, guilt, and frustration among parents of children with autism, says a new UK study. The effects on the parents are largely unappreciated by health professionals, the study says.

The authors of the study, which was funded by the UK Medical Research Council, say that although much research has looked at the link between the MMR vaccine, bowel disease, and autism-a link postulated by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues in 1998 (Lancet 1998;351: 637)-and at the effect of the debate in general, there has been “a notable absence” of research into how it has affected parents of children with autism (Archives ofDisease in Childhood 2007;92;322-7).

The authors conducted 10 focus group discussions involving 38 parents whose children had been given a diagnosis of autism after the publication of the Wakefield paper.

They . . .