No increase in demyelinating diseases after hepatitis B vaccination

Zipp, Frauke; Weil, John G.; Einhäupl, Karl M.

doi:10.1038/12376

Letters to the Editor
Published: September 1999

No increase in demyelinating diseases after hepatitis B vaccination

Frauke Zipp¹,
John G. Weil² &
Karl M. Einhäupl¹

Nature Medicine volume 5, pages 964–965 (1999) Cite this article

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To the editor—Anecdotal reports on recombinant hepatitis B vaccination have suggested that the vaccine may give rise to demyelination in the central nervous system¹. Some molecular features of both the virus and the vaccine could, theoretically, account for such adverse events². We report here the first population-based controlled study on this question. Our results do not support the assumption that hepatitis B vaccination induces demyelination.

A retrospective cohort study was done on 134,698 individuals enrolled in a US healthcare database from 1988 to 1995. The database consists of integrated pharmacy and medical claims from six Diversified Pharmaceutical Services affiliated HMO plans, contracted to cover the economically active population and their dependants, with a total of 1.2 million insured lives. As it provides a geographically representative sample of the US population, Caucasians were over-represented. The database contains information on enrollment and all physician, hospital and pharmacy claims.

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Subjects

Vaccination Impacts on Multiple Sclerosis Management

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by grants from the Gemeinnützige Hertie-Stiftung, the Deutsche Multiple Sklerose-Gesellschaft and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (ZI 448/7-1). The authors thank Susan Letham for critical reading and Dr. Robert Nitsch for discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

Department of Neurology, Charité, Berlin, 10098, Germany
Frauke Zipp & Karl M. Einhäupl
SmithKline Beecham Biologicals, 1330 Rixensart, Belgium
John G. Weil

Authors

Frauke Zipp
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John G. Weil
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Karl M. Einhäupl
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Correspondence to Frauke Zipp.

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Zipp, F., Weil, J. & Einhäupl, K. No increase in demyelinating diseases after hepatitis B vaccination. Nat Med 5, 964–965 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/12376

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Issue date: September 1999
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/12376