title: Association between socioeconomic status and adverse events following immunization at 2, 4, 6 and 12 months.
abstract: Using a population-based self-controlled case series design, we examined data on children born between the years 2002 and 2009 in the province of Ontario, Canada. We specifically examined how socioeconomic status (SES) influences rates of adverse events following immunization (AEFI), defined as emergency room visits and / or hospital admissions. For vaccination at 2, 4 and 6 mo combined, the relative incidence of AEFI (95% CI) in the first 72 h after vaccination was 0.69 (0.67 to 0.71). For all three vaccinations combined, we observed no relationship between the relative incidence of an event and quintile of socioeconomic status (p = 0.1433). For the 12-mo vaccination alone, the relative incidence of events (95% CI) on days 4 to 12 following immunization was 1.35 (1.31 to 1.38). We observed a significant relationship between socioeconomic status and vaccination at 12 mo, with lower SES being associated with a higher relative incidence of events (p = 0.0075). When the lowest 2 quintiles of income combined were compared with the highest 3 quintiles, the relative incidence ratio (95% CI) was 0.94 (0.89 to 0.99, p = 0.02). These results translate to 150 additional adverse events in the lower SES quintiles as compared with the higher SES quintiles for every 100,000 children vaccinated, or 1 additional event for every 666 individuals vaccinated. Future studies should explore potential explanations for this observation.
authors: Department of Medicine; Ottawa Hospital Research Institute; University of Ottawa; Ottawa, ON Canada; ICES@Uottawa; Ottawa Hospital Research Institute; University of Ottawa; Ottawa, ON Canada.
authors: Kumanan
authors: K
authors: Wilson
authors: Robin
authors: R
authors: Ducharme
authors: Steven
authors: S
authors: Hawken
mesh_terms: D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D012923:Social Class; D014611:Vaccination / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods*; D014612:Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D014612:Vaccines
keywords: epidemiology; pediatric; self-controlled case series; socioeconomic status; vaccine safety