Febrile Seizures and Measles-Containing Vaccines in China: A Self-Controlled Case Series Study

Abstract

Little is known about the risk of febrile seizures (FS) after vaccination with measles-containing vaccines (MCVs) in middle- and low-income countries. This self-controlled case series study aimed to evaluate the risk of FSs in Chinese children using data from the Ningbo Regional Health Information Platform. The observation period was 0–12 and 13–24 months of age for the MR and MMR vaccines, respectively. The relative incidences (RIs) within 0–6 days, 7–13 days, 14–27 days, and 28–42 days after vaccination with MCVs were estimated. The remaining observation period was the control period. The RIs within 0–6 days, 7–13 days, 14–27 days, and 28–42 days after MR vaccination were 1.11 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.33 to 3.70], 0.80 (95% CI 0.23 to 2.86), 1.67 (95% CI 0.81 to 3.42), and 1.02 (95% CI 0.49 to 2.14), respectively. The corresponding RIs after MMR vaccination were 0.99 (95% CI 0.56 to 1.75), 1.17 (95% CI 0.68 to 2.01), 0.87 (95% CI 0.54 to 1.39), and 0.85 (95% CI 0.54 to 1.34), respectively. This study suggests that China’s vaccination schedule for MCVs, as suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) for countries with a high risk of measles mortality and ongoing transmission, does not increase the risk of FSs.

Keywords

• febrile seizures
• measles-mumps-rubella vaccine
• self-controlled case series study
• relative incidence