John Henderson, Kate North, Mancell Griffiths, Ian Harvey, Jean Golding
Henderson J, North K, Griffiths M, Harvey I, Golding J.
Pertussis vaccination and wheezing illnesses in young children: prospective cohort study
BMJ 1999; 318 :1173
doi:10.1136/bmj.318.7192.1173
Pertussis vaccination and wheezing
Editor
Although wheezing in preschool children and asthma in childhood are
two different issues, John Henderson and colleagues(1)refer to the results
of our preliminary study,which suggest that pertussis vaccination
represents a risk factor for asthma in childhood(2).They correctly mention
that we did not control for potential confounding factors.It would have
been relevant to mention that we studied an homogeneous population.The 446
children(mean age
8)in our study had been breasfed more than a year and had received only
breast milk during their first six months(including the first day
following birth).It is well known that prolonged breastfeeding is
positively associated
with high maternal education and negatively associated with
smoking;furthermore none of these children had BCG.
In this particular population we found a significant correlation
between pertussis vaccination and astma in childhood(relative risk 5).
Michel R Odent
Director
Primal Health Research Centre
London NW3 2NP
I do not have any competing interest in relation with this paper.
References
1 Henderson J,North K,Griffiths M,et al. Pertussis vaccination and
wheezing illnesses in young children: prospective cohort study. BMJ
1999;318:1173-6
2 Odent MR,Culpin EE,Kimmel T.Pertussis vaccination and asthma: is
there a link? JAMA 1994;272:592-3
Competing interests: No competing interests