News

23rd February 2004

MMR research may be flawed

The argument over whether or not the MMR vaccine causes autism is once again hitting the headlines after the doctor at the centre of the research has rejected claims that the work was 'flawed'.

Dr Andrew Wakefield defended his findings after the Lancet medical journal said it should not have published the study in 1998. Dr Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet, announced last week that the researchers in the original trial had "a fatal conflict of interest".

Dr Wakefield's research, published in 1998, appeared to show a link between the measles virus and a regressive form of autism and bowel disease in children. Because some children became ill shortly after their MMR jab, he called for urgent research into whether or not the vaccine was to blame.

However, at the time of the research, Dr Wakefield had been carrying out a study to determine if parents concerned that their children had reacted to the MMR had grounds for legal action. This particular study was funded by the legal Aid Board and was not disclosed at the time.

Dr Horton said "We did not know that he had a dual role with the Legal Aid Board...and we certainly had no idea that he had received money to do that. If we had known the conflict of interest Dr Wakefield had in this work I think that would have strongly affected the peer reviewers about the credibility of this work and, in my judgement, it would have been rejected."

However, Dr Wakefield told the Sunday Telegraph, "That was a completely separate study. We took children according to clinical need. There was no selective recruitment."

"We have identified important illness in children and raised important questions about child health," he added.

The research was carried out at The Royal Free Hospital in London who backed Dr Wakefield in a statement it issued on Saturday saying "We are entirely satisfied that the investigations performed on the children reported in The Lancet had been subjected to appropriate and rigorous ethical scrutiny."

Health Secretary John Reid has urged the General Medical Council to investigate "as a matter of urgency".

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