Flu vaccine link to sleep problem

Thursday March 29th, 2012

A swine flu vaccine may cause a sleep condition in children, researchers claimed last night.

Doctors in Finland say they have found a link between the Pandemrix vaccine and a sudden outbreak of narcolepsy in children.

Victims of narcolepsy suffer from excessive sleepiness and can nod off without notice.

The study, reported in PLoS One, showed the problem increasing by five times among the country's children in 2010. There was no change in rates among adults.

This meant that more than five children in every 100,000 developed the condition during 2010. Before then the condition was rare, affecting no more than three children in a million.

The researchers, Markku Partinen of the Helsinki Sleep Clinic and Hanna Nohynek of the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Finland, found the rate reached nine per 100,000 for children who were vaccinated.

This compared with a rate of seven in a million among unvaccinated children.

They say this is "compelling" evidence of a link with the vaccine.

Nohynek H, Jokinen J, Partinen M, Vaarala O, Kirjavainen T, et al. AS03 Adjuvanted AH1N1 Vaccine Associated with an Abrupt Increase in the Incidence of Childhood Narcolepsy in Finland. PLoS ONE March 28 2012 7(3): e33536. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033536

Tags: Child Health | Europe | Flu & Viruses

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