Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and measles vaccine in an English population, 1979-1998.
OBJECTIVE
s: To study the hospitalised incidence of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) from 1979 to 1998; and to determine whether the introduction of the measles vaccination programme was associated with an increase in the young.


METHODS
Analysis of linked data on hospital admissions; a cohort analysis of the effect of the measles vaccination programme on the incidence of hospitalised CD and UC; and a comparison of these results with those from previous studies on the association between measles vaccine and CD or UC.


METHODS
Southern England.


METHODS
People admitted to hospital with a main diagnosis of CD (1959 people) or UC (2018 people).


RESULTS
Overall, the incidence of hospitalised CD showed no significant change over the 20 year period: the average change per year was 0.08% (95% confidence interval: -0.7% to 0.9%). The relative risk associated with the measles vaccination programme was not significant (0.91: 0.5 to 1.4). The estimate differed significantly from the relative risk of 3.0 obtained in the original study reporting an association, but agreed with the combined estimate from three subsequent studies (0.95: 0.6 to 1.5). The results for UC were similar.


CONCLUSIONS
The incidence of hospitalised CD and UC remained stable over the 20 years, 1979 to 1998. Whatever caused the marked increases in CD and UC in the mid-20th century must itself have stabilised in this region. These results, together with those from other studies, provide strong evidence against measles vaccine causing CD or UC.
Unit of Health-Care Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, University of Oxford, UK. valerie.seagroatt@dphpc.ox.ac.uk
V
V
Seagroatt
M J
MJ
Goldacre
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008458:Measles Vaccine / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008875:Middle Aged; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D012307:Risk Factors
D008458:Measles Vaccine