Since the introduction of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine in the UK in 1988, there has been no increase in the occurrence of the inflammatory bowel condition, Crohn’s Disease, according to a brief report in this week’s British Medical Journal.

In 1998, gastroenterologist Dr. Andrew Wakefield published a study linking MMR vaccination to the occurrence of autism and an inflammatory bowel disease similar to Crohn’s disease in several children.

Numerous studies have since discounted the association with autism, but less attention has been given to the purported connection to Crohn’s disease.

Dr. Valerie Seagroatt, from the University of Oxford, correlated records of MMR vaccine usage with hospital admissions for Crohn’s disease in England between 1991 and 2002. As noted, she found no evidence that Crohn’s disease admissions increased with introduction of the vaccine.

The study “provides strong evidence” against the hypothesis of an association between the MMR vaccine and Crohn’s Disease “and adds to the evidence that MMR vaccine is no less safe in this respect than the single measles vaccine,” Seagroatt concludes.

SOURCE: British Medical Journal, May 14, 2005.