Primary immunisation is not related to sudden infant death

The immunisation programme in the United Kingdom is now given at ages 2, 3, and 4 months, which coincides with the peak age for incidence of the sudden infant death syndrome. The results of a three year, population based, case-control study by Fleming et al (p 822) show a reduced rate of immunisation among the infants who died, despite control for potential confounding. The authors found no association between the time of vaccination and time of death, signs and symptoms of illness before death, or sudden unexpected deaths attributed to other causes, such as infection.

Related Article

The UK accelerated immunisation programme and sudden unexpected death in infancy: case-control study

Peter J Fleming, Peter S Blair, Martin Ward Platt, John Tripp, Iain J Smith, Jean Golding, and the CESDI SUDI research group
BMJ 2001 322: 822. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]